title: [Study of tuberculosis outbreaks reported in Catalonia, 1998-2002].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the characteristics of tuberculosis outbreaks declared under vigilance programs in Catalonia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive study of outbreaks from 1998 through 2002 for which reports were available. An outbreak was defined as 3 or more associated cases appearing within a year. For 2 health care regions, outbreaks for which there were full surveillance reports with contact tracing were compared to outbreaks identified but which had not been fully reported.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-seven outbreaks were analyzed. Nineteen (70%) occurred within families. A total of 22 outbreaks were declared upon identification of the true index case and 5 upon detection of secondary cases. The mean annual incidence of outbreaks was 0.40/100,100 inhabitants. Most cases were in males 16 to 40 years of age and involved cavitary lesions and a clinically significant diagnostic delay. Twenty-seven outbreaks caused 69 secondary cases. A longer diagnostic delay was seen to correspond to a larger number of secondary cases (P=.08). In the 2 health care regions analyzed, full surveillance reports with contact tracing were issued for 2 of the 14 outbreaks detected (14.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tuberculosis outbreaks are common but investigative follow-up is scarce. The size of the outbreak is related to the length of diagnostic delay. Rapid diagnosis, contact tracing, and the issuance of a public health report should be priorities in all outbreaks detected.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Pediatría, Obstetricia y Ginecología, y Medicina Preventiva, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bran
authors.forename: Joan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Caylá
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Domínguez
authors.forename: Neus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Camps
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Godoy
authors.forename: Angels
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orcau
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barrabeig
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alcaide
authors.forename: Neus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Altet
authors.forename: Pep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alvarez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology*