Lessons learnt in Europe on tuberculosis surveillance, outbreaks and BCG vaccination in 2011

Completing treatment for latent tuberculosis: patient background matters

“…US-born cases generated more secondary cases than immigrants, according to a study from San-Francisco (344). To my knowledge, no significant TB transmission from immigrant to native population of host country has been demonstrated (345,346), though a number of outbreaks where the source case was from high-incidence country have been reported (257,269,347). The most likely reason is a low degree of integration of immigrants with the indigenous population (345,348).…”

“…When TB incidence subsides, a shift towards outbreak management of TB control takes place. Clustering of TB cases in high-risk groups and the absence of LTBI in the great majority of young people in low-incidence countries are necessary conditions for the occurrence of -microepidemics‖ (269). TB outbreaks in low-incidence settings are typically characterized by a single source of infection, diagnostic delay, and a congregated environment, which facilitates transmission (270).…”

“…Another study from the same South African township demonstrates that although the risk of TB in preschool children was mainly determined by the number of resident adults, transmission risk outside the home increased with increasing number of households visited (395). To some extent, the lessons drawn from high-endemic settings can probably be applied to sites of intensive transmission in low-endemic places where -microepidemics‖ occasionally occur (269).…”

Legionnaires' disease in Europe: all quiet on the eastern front?

“…Infectious disease surveillance is an import tool in detecting unusual events, assessing trends and monitoring the impact of programmes [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Legionnaires' disease is notifiable in all 27 European Union countries, plus Iceland and Norway.…”

Health professionals’ experiences of tuberculosis cohort audit in the North West of England: a qualitative study

“… 31 Lack of communication and collaboration in healthcare teams has negative effects on patient outcomes with failure of communication being the primary cause for the majority of errors, 32 and outbreaks of TB have been shown to frequently originate from clinical mistakes in diagnosing and treating TB. 33 Reducing the burden of TB in the UK requires the coordinated action of many partners, working together across local authority and NHS boundaries. 5 …”