TB

This report reviews the new CDC guidelines about TB screening for immigrants and the medical treatment of infected persons. Recent immigration trends and the epidemiology of TB among immigrants is examined. The report discusses the prioritization of TB case finding, screening, and preventive therapy for immigrants in the overall elimination of TB in the United States. It includes recommendations to improve epidemiologic reporting on the federal, state, and local levels for foreign-born persons in the US.

This manual provides a structured plan for the training, development and evaluation of healthcare workers involved in contact investigation. It focuses on interview techniques and communication skills and provides data collection instruments for the provision of objective feedback to the interviewer.

This study examined the clinic records of TB programs to determine whether these programs used recommended practices to manage HIV-positive persons exposed to TB. The study suggests that TB programs need to review their contact investigation policies, procedures, and outcomes to reduce missed opportunities for preventing active TB among HIV-positive close contacts.

This report describes an outbreak of drug-susceptible TB that occurred in a South Carolina state correctional facility housing HIV-infected inmates and illustrates the need for increased vigilance for TB in settings in which HIV-infected persons congregate.

This report describes findings from two cases in which TB was misdiagnosed due to laboratory cross-contamination and summarizes the results of the ensuing investigation, which demonstrated the value of DNA fingerprinting to identify occurrences of cross-contamination among patient specimens.

This guideline presents updated data about drug interactions between protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors for treatment of HIV infection together with rifamycins for treatment of TB.

This notice explains that on September 30, 1999, the Food and Drug Administration approved a reformulated amplified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Direct (MTD) test for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in acid-fast Bacille (AFB) smear-positive and smear-negative respiratory specimens from patients suspected of having TB.

This report describes the investigations of two TB outbreaks that occurred in two state correctional institutions with dedicated HIV housing units. In each outbreak, IS6110-based DNA fingerprinting of Mycobacterium (MTB) isolates linked all cases. During the 4-month intervals between identification of the two male index case-patients, one of whom later died of miliary TB, and chest radiograph screening of all the contacts remaining in the housing unit, 190 inmates had been released.

This report describes World TB Day 2003 activities in 51 countries. The objective of World TB Day 2003 was to involve as many TB patients as possible in activities that encourage people with TB symptoms to seek effective diagnosis and treatment.