Outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis on Daru Island: an update

The epidemiology of tuberculosis in the rural Balimo region of Papua New Guinea

“…Our estimate for the Balimo region is higher than the previous Western Province region incidence estimate of 549 cases per 100 000 people per year . The South Fly District and the provincial capital of Daru have previously been noted for having a high burden of TB, and particularly DR‐TB . A heavy burden of TB cases in the North Fly District has previously been observed, while more recent research described 18 cases of TB from Tabubil, with one of these identified as rifampicin resistant .…”

Impact of GxAlert on the management of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis patients, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

“…This resulted in an increased focus on programme quality, with a monthly review of MDR-TB indicators, training and support to health workers, and the implementation of community-based care programme with health care workers for patient retrieval and support. 16 Our study findings indicated a 29% absolute decrease in the proportion of patients who did not start treatment within 30 days of diagnosis (pre-treatment attrition) in the period after the introduction of GxAlert. This is consistent with previous studies that have identified similar decreases with Xpert implementation, 5 although the impact of GxAlert in addition to Xpert had not been previously reported.…”

Implementation of screening and management of household contacts of tuberculosis cases in Daru, Papua New Guinea

“…5 There is a particularly high TB incidence in Daru, the capital of Western Province, which has reported an outbreak of MDR-TB. [6][7][8] The screening of household contacts, particularly contacts of the most infectious TB cases (i.e., bacteriologically confirmed), can further increase case detection, 9 and thereby improve IPT uptake as per international and national TB guidelines to high-risk contacts who do not have active TB. [10][11][12] In 2016, the Western Provincial Health Office (PHO) and partners began to screen the household contacts of TB cases resident on Daru Island.…”