Microepidemics of tuberculosis: the stone-in-the-pond principle.
In a low prevalence country with no systematic BCG vaccination and a low frequency of environmental mycobacterial infections, for each recognized case of tuberculosis or infection with M. tuberculosis source detection should be undertaken. Sometimes this search will lead to discovery of a microepidemic. The extent of contact screening in a microepidemic can easily be determined if observed group prevalences are compared to expected group prevalences. The described method illustrates this search for contacts in concentric circles around the source case: the stone-in-the-pond principle.
Veen
J
J
Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Association, The Hague.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016358:Contact Tracing / Q000379:methods*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology*