Tuberculosis: What is the yield of associate investigations in non-BCG-immunized children with positive tuberculin skin tests?

P. K. Moonan, M. Marruffo, G. Manguia-Bayona, B. Sahbazian, M. Bayona, G. Burgess, Stephen Weis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

SETTING: Urban county health department in Tarrant County, Texas, USA. OBJECTIVE: To determine the yield of associate investigations in non-bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunized children with positive tuberculin skin tests (TSTs). DESIGN: We compared the results of associate investigations of the contacts of 38 TST-positive, non-BCG-immunized pre-school children with the results of contact investigations of 290 culture-confirmed persons with tuberculosis (TB). RESULTS: Associate investigations were more likely than contact investigations to identify persons with culture-confirmed TB and positive TSTs. Contacts identified through associate investigation of non-BCG-immunized pre-school children were 9.4 (95%CI 4.2-22.5) times more likely to have culture-confirmed TB and 2.3 (95%CI 2.0-2.7) times more likely to have positive TSTs than contacts of persons with culture-confirmed TB. CONCLUSION: While conducting associate investigations is labor intensive, these data indicate that associate investigation of pre-school non-BCG-immunized children should be assigned priority in TB control activities, at least equal to the importance of investigating the contacts of culture-proven TB.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)322-327
Number of pages6
JournalInternational Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Volume9
Issue number3
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2005

Keywords

  • Associate investigation
  • Contact investigation
  • Pediatric
  • Tuberculosis

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