A comparative examination of tuberculosis immigration medical screening programs from selected countries with high immigration and low tuberculosis incidence rates

BMC Infectious Diseases

Research Article

Drew L Posey¹  Elena Rodríguez Valín²  Ingrid Hamilton³  Daniel Sagebiel⁴  Paul Douglas⁵  Marie-Claire Paty⁶  Gonzalo G Alvarez⁷  Ekkehardt Altpeter⁸  Peter Helbling⁸  Alberto Matteelli⁹  Erika Slump^1,10  Connie Erkens^1,10  Brian Gushulak^1,11  Daniel Chemtob^1,12  Khaled Abu Rumman^1,13  Brita Askeland Winje^1,14  Anders Tegnell^1,15  Jane Jones^1,16  Edward Ellis^1,17 

[1] CDR, USPHS, Immigrant, Refugee, and Migrant Health Branch, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA;Centro Nacional de Epidemiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III C/Sinesio Delgado n° 6, 28029, Madrid, Spain;Communicable Diseases, Population Health Protection Group, Population Health Directorate, Ministry of Health, New Zealand;Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, DGZ-Ring 1, 13086, Berlin, Germany;Department of Immigration & Citizenship Building C, Level 6, 300 Elizabeth St, Sydney, Australia;Direction Générale de la Santé, Sous direction Prévention des risques infectieux, Bureau risque infectieux et politique vaccinale - RI 1, 14, avenue Duquesne, 75350, Paris, France;Divisions of Respirology and Infectious Diseases, University of Ottawa at The Ottawa Hospital, The Ottawa Health Research Institute, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;Eidgenössisches Departement des Innern EDI, Bundesamt für Gesundheit BAG, Direktionsbereich Öffentliche Gesundheit, Schwarztorstrasse 96, CH-3007, Bern, Switzerland;Istituto Malattie Infettive e Tropicali, Università degli Studi di Brescia, P.le Spedali Civili, 1, 25123, Italy;KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, PO Box 146, 2501, The Hague, CC, The Netherlands;Migration Health Consultants, Inc, Singapore;National Tuberculosis Program, Department of Tuberculosis and AIDS, Public Health Services, Ministry of Health33 Pierre Koenig, P.O.B 1176, 91010, Jerusalem, Israel;National Tuberculosis Program, Jordan;Norwegian Institute of Public Health Agency of Canada, 100 Eglantine Drive, AL 0603B Ottawa, K1A 0K9, Ontario, Canada;Socialstyrelsen, The National Board of Health and Welfare, Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, 10630, Stockholm, Sweden;Travel and Migrant Health Section, Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections, 61 Colindale Avenue, London, England;Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, 100 Eglantine Drive, AL 0603B Ottawa, K1A 0K9, Ontario, Canada;

关键词: Screening Program;    Tuberculin Skin Testing;    Asylum Seeker;    Positive Tuberculin Skin Testing;    Medical Surveillance;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-11-3

 received in 2010-01-08, accepted in 2011-01-04,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) in migrants is an ongoing challenge in several low TB incidence countries since a large proportion of TB in these countries occurs in migrants from high incidence countries. To meet these challenges, several countries utilize TB screening programs. The programs attempt to identify and treat those with active and/or infectious stages of the disease. In addition, screening is used to identify and manage those with latent or inactive disease after arrival. Between nations, considerable variation exists in the methods used in migration-associated TB screening. The present study aimed to compare the TB immigration medical examination requirements in selected countries of high immigration and low TB incidence rates.MethodsDescriptive study of immigration TB screening programsResults16 out of 18 eligible countries responded to the written standardized survey and phone interview. Comparisons in specific areas of TB immigration screening programs included authorities responsible for TB screening, the primary objectives of the TB screening program, the yield of detection of active TB disease, screening details and aspects of follow up for inactive pulmonary TB. No two countries had the same approach to TB screening among migrants. Important differences, common practices, common problems, evidence or lack of evidence for program specifics were noted.ConclusionsIn spite of common goals, there is great diversity in the processes and practices designed to mitigate the impact of migration-associated TB among nations that screen migrants for the disease. The long-term goal in decreasing migration-related introduction of TB from high to low incidence countries remains diminishing the prevalence of the disease in those high incidence locations. In the meantime, existing or planned migration screening programs for TB can be made more efficient and evidenced based. Cooperation among countries doing research in the areas outlined in this study should facilitate the development of improved screening programs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Alvarez et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.