Results of tuberculosis contact investigations among social welfare facilities, 2017-2018

Kim Young-Man, Han Sunmi, Oh Suheon, Park mi-sun
Division of Tuberculosis Epidemic Investigation, Center for Disease Prevention, KCDC

Tuberculosis (TB) is an respiratory infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It usually spreads through the air by active patients’ coughing, spiting, speaking, or sneezing. Most infection do not have symptoms, in which case it is called latent tuberculosis. If untreated, around 10% of them progress to active TB. Contact investigations are essential to prevent tuberculosis (TB) and reduce the incidence of TB. This report describes the results of contact investigations of infectious TB patients among social welfare facilities from 2017 to 2018. During the period, a total of 1,316 index TB patients were reported to the Korea Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, with 39,118 contacts identified. The contacts underwent chest radiography (CXR), and 65 cases diagnosed with active TB. Of these contacts, 8,600 were put on the latent TB infection tests using the interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), in which 2,721 (31.6%) were identified as positive.

Keywords: Contact investigation, Tuberculosis, Social welfare facilities, Latent TB infection