Effect of a Culture-Based Screening Algorithm on Tuberculosis Incidence in Immigrants and Refugees Bound for the United States

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Ann Intern Med
• Personal Author:
  Liu, Yecai ; Posey, Drew L. ; Cetron, Martin S. ; Painter, John A. ; Liu, Yecai ; Posey, Drew L. ; Cetron, Martin S. ; Painter, John A.
• Description:
  Background
  
  Before 2007, U.S.-bound immigrants and refugees were screened for tuberculosis (TB) by a smear-based algorithm that could not diagnose smear-negative and culture-positive TB. In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began to implement a culture-based algorithm.
  
  Objective
  
  To evaluate the effect of the culture-based algorithm on preventing the importation of TB to the United States by immigrants and refugees from foreign countries.
  
  Design
  
  Population-based, cross-sectional study.
  
  Setting
  
  Panel physician sites for overseas medical examination.
  
  Patients
  
  Immigrants and refugees with TB.
  
  Measurements
  
  Comparison of the increase of smear-negative and culture-positive TB cases diagnosed overseas among immigrants and refugees by the culture-based algorithm with the decline of reported TB cases among foreign-born persons within 1 year after arrival in the United States from 2007 to 2012.
  
  Results
  
  Of the 3 212 421 arrivals of immigrants and refugees from 2007 to 2012, 1 650 961 (51.4%) were screened by the smear-based algorithm and 1 561 460 (48.6%) were screened by the culture-based algorithm. Among the 4032 TB cases diagnosed by the culture-based algorithm, 2195 (54.4%) were smear-negative and culture-positive. Before implementation (2002 to 2006), the annual number of reported TB cases among foreign-born persons within 1 year after arrival was relatively constant (range, 1424 to 1626 cases; mean, 1504 cases) but decreased from 1511 to 940 cases during implementation (2007 to 2012). During the same period, the annual number of smear-negative and culture-positive TB cases diagnosed overseas among U.S.-bound immigrants and refugees by the culture-based algorithm increased from 4 in 2007 to 629 in 2012.
  
  Limitation
  
  This analysis did not control for the decline in new arrivals of nonimmigrant visitors to the United States and the decrease of incidence of TB in their countries of origin.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Implementation of the culture-based algorithm in U.S.-bound immigrants and refugees may have substantially reduced the incidence of TB among newly arrived, foreign-born persons in the United States.
  
  Primary Funding Source
  
  None.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Algorithms Article Bacteriological Techniques Cross-Sectional Studies Emigrants And Immigrants Follow-Up Studies Humans Incidence Mass Screening Refugees Tuberculosis United States

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• Source:
  Ann Intern Med. 162(6):420-428 ; Ann Intern Med. 162(6):420-428
• Pubmed ID:
  25775314
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4646057
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  162
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:05d06bc0ac390c2b3c33c9a5ee9c26d50b4df012aa30261545dd440fd3aa4316
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/36490/cdc_36490_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1008.10 KB ]