SETTING In low-incidence regions, tuberculosis (TB) often affects vulnerable populations. Guidelines recommend active case finding (ACF) in homeless populations, but there is no consensus on a preferred screening method. OBJECTIVE We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the use of chest X-ray (CXR) screening in ACF for TB in homeless populations. DESIGN Articles were ...

Introduction The Florida Department of Health (DOH) utilizes the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community Based Epidemics (ESSENCE-FL) as its statewide syndromic surveillance system. ESSENCE-FL comprises of chief complaint data from 231 of 240 EDs, representing 96 percent of the total number of EDs in Florida. Historically, syndromic surveillance has categorized pa...

Contact tracing is the most commonly employed process of identifying the relevant contacts of a person with an infectious disease. A systematic review and meta-analysis on contact tracing of tuberculosis (TB) suspects has shown that the yield of household contact investigation in lowand middle-income countries was 6.5 %. However, a recent study from Malaysia has shown the yield of TB contact tr...

BACKGROUND In Russia, active case finding (ACF) for certain population groups has been practiced uninterruptedly for many decades, but no studies comparing ACF and passive case finding (PCF) approaches in Russia have been published. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to describe the main differences in symptoms and diagnostic delay between patients who come to TB services through PCF and ACF...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) continues to pose a major global health problem and thus intensive action is needed to control and ultimately eliminate the disease. METHODS An active case finding (ACF) survey was conducted in the urban slum areas of the R-South Municipal Ward of Mumbai City for a period of two months from June to July 2012. Micro planning for survey was done by District Tubercul...

BACKGROUND Engagement of communities and civil society organizations is a critical part of the Post-2015 End TB Strategy. Since 2007, many models of community referral have been implemented to boost TB case detection in Nigeria. Yet clear insights into the comparative TB yield from particular approaches have been limited. METHODS We compared four models of active case finding in three Nigeria...

1. Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2. Clinical Research Development Center, Amir-Almomenin Hospital, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 3. Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehr...

In Italy tuberculosis (TB) is largely concentrated in vulnerable groups such as migrants and in urban settings. We analyzed three TB case finding interventions conducted at primary centers and mobile clinics for regular/irregular immigrants and refugees/asylum seekers performed over a four-year period (November 2009-March 2014) at five different sites in Rome and one site in Milan, Italy. TB hi...

BACKGROUND The potential population-level impact of private-sector initiatives for tuberculosis (TB) case finding in Southeast Asia remains uncertain. In 2011, the Indus Hospital TB Control Program in Karachi, Pakistan, undertook an aggressive case-finding campaign that doubled notification rates, providing an opportunity to investigate potential population-level effects. METHODS We construct...

BACKGROUND Since 2005, Cambodia's national tuberculosis programme has been conducting active case finding (ACF) with mobile radiography units, targeting household contacts of TB patients in poor and vulnerable communities in addition to routine passive case finding (PCF). This paper examines the differences in the demographic characteristics, smear grades, and treatment outcomes of pulmonary TB...