Cargando…

Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study

BACKGROUND: Migration is one of the major causes of tuberculosis in developed countries. Undocumented patients are usually not screened at the border and are not covered by a health insurance increasing their risk of developing the disease unnoticed. Urban health centres could help identify this pop...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bodenmann, Patrick, Vaucher, Paul, Wolff, Hans, Favrat, Bernard, de Tribolet, Fanny, Masserey, Eric, Zellweger, Jean-Pierre
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19317899
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-9-34
_version_ 1782166099666665472
author Bodenmann, Patrick
Vaucher, Paul
Wolff, Hans
Favrat, Bernard
de Tribolet, Fanny
Masserey, Eric
Zellweger, Jean-Pierre
author_facet Bodenmann, Patrick
Vaucher, Paul
Wolff, Hans
Favrat, Bernard
de Tribolet, Fanny
Masserey, Eric
Zellweger, Jean-Pierre
author_sort Bodenmann, Patrick
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Migration is one of the major causes of tuberculosis in developed countries. Undocumented patients are usually not screened at the border and are not covered by a health insurance increasing their risk of developing the disease unnoticed. Urban health centres could help identify this population at risk. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and adherence to preventive treatment in a population of undocumented immigrant patients. METHODS: All consecutive undocumented patients that visited two urban healthcare centres for vulnerable populations in Lausanne, Switzerland for the first time were offered tuberculosis screening with an interferon-γ assay. Preventive treatment was offered if indicated. Adherence to treatment was evaluated monthly over a nine month period. RESULTS: Of the 161 participants, 131 (81.4%) agreed to screening and 125 had complete examinations. Twenty-four of the 125 patients (19.2%; CI95% 12.7;27.2) had positive interferon-γ assay results, two of which had active tuberculosis. Only five patients with LTBI completed full preventive treatments. Five others initiated the treatment but did not follow through. CONCLUSION: Screening for tuberculosis infection in this hard-to-reach population is feasible in dedicated urban clinics, and the prevalence of LTBI is high in this vulnerable population. However, the low adherence to treatment is an important public health concern, and new strategies are needed to address this problem.
format Text
id pubmed-2667187
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2009
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-26671872009-04-09 Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study Bodenmann, Patrick Vaucher, Paul Wolff, Hans Favrat, Bernard de Tribolet, Fanny Masserey, Eric Zellweger, Jean-Pierre BMC Infect Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: Migration is one of the major causes of tuberculosis in developed countries. Undocumented patients are usually not screened at the border and are not covered by a health insurance increasing their risk of developing the disease unnoticed. Urban health centres could help identify this population at risk. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and adherence to preventive treatment in a population of undocumented immigrant patients. METHODS: All consecutive undocumented patients that visited two urban healthcare centres for vulnerable populations in Lausanne, Switzerland for the first time were offered tuberculosis screening with an interferon-γ assay. Preventive treatment was offered if indicated. Adherence to treatment was evaluated monthly over a nine month period. RESULTS: Of the 161 participants, 131 (81.4%) agreed to screening and 125 had complete examinations. Twenty-four of the 125 patients (19.2%; CI95% 12.7;27.2) had positive interferon-γ assay results, two of which had active tuberculosis. Only five patients with LTBI completed full preventive treatments. Five others initiated the treatment but did not follow through. CONCLUSION: Screening for tuberculosis infection in this hard-to-reach population is feasible in dedicated urban clinics, and the prevalence of LTBI is high in this vulnerable population. However, the low adherence to treatment is an important public health concern, and new strategies are needed to address this problem. BioMed Central 2009-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC2667187/ /pubmed/19317899 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-9-34 Text en Copyright ©2009 Bodenmann et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bodenmann, Patrick
Vaucher, Paul
Wolff, Hans
Favrat, Bernard
de Tribolet, Fanny
Masserey, Eric
Zellweger, Jean-Pierre
Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
title Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
title_full Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
title_fullStr Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
title_full_unstemmed Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
title_short Screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in Swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
title_sort screening for latent tuberculosis infection among undocumented immigrants in swiss healthcare centres; a descriptive exploratory study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19317899
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-9-34
work_keys_str_mv AT bodenmannpatrick screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy
AT vaucherpaul screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy
AT wolffhans screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy
AT favratbernard screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy
AT detriboletfanny screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy
AT massereyeric screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy
AT zellwegerjeanpierre screeningforlatenttuberculosisinfectionamongundocumentedimmigrantsinswisshealthcarecentresadescriptiveexploratorystudy