Rapid tests reduce the burden of tuberculosis in Azerbaijan prisons: special emphasis on rifampicin-resistance

AIMS: To evaluate the impact of addition of rapid tests for tuberculosis (TB) to mass screening and passive case finding on the burden of TB in high-incidence prisons of Azerbaijan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All new and relapse TB cases notified in 01.01.2009-31.12.2015 were retrospectively included. RESULTS: 2,315 TB patients were identified in 19 prisons. Implementation of the rapid tests to the case finding algorithms lead to 3-, 10- and 5-fold decrease in the annual rates of the notified, smear-positive and RIF-resistant TB cases, respectively. After introduction of rapid tests into the screening algorithms, there were significant linear trends towards decrease in the notified (p=0.009), smear-positive (p=0.011) and RIF-resistant TB cases (p=0.02) with the annual rates of decrease (95% confidence interval (CI)) being -435 (-614; -255), -356 (-517; -195), and -99 (-160; -38), respectively. Utilization of rapid tests also significantly increased treatment success with first-line drugs among all cases, cases detected by mass screening and those, detected by passive case finding [adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=2.38, 95% CI:1.86-3.05, aOR=4.56, 95% CI:2.64-7.89 and aOR=2.60, 95% CI:1.81-3.75, respectively]. CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of rapid tests into the screening lead to decline in the burden of TB and RIF-resistance, and improved outcomes of treatment with first-line drugs in prisons.