title: [Tuberculosis screening of foreigners in European, North-American, and Oceanian countries].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To plan a tuberculosis control program of foreign-born people in Japan, we reviewed the policies of tuberculosis screening on entrance for immigrants and non-immigrant visitors other than refugees and asylum-seekers in European, North American and Oceanic countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical literature review and Internet search for the official governmental web sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In most countries, the main targets of tuberculosis screening programs for foreign-born people are refugees and asylum-seekers. Very few countries have a tuberculosis screening system on entrance for non-immigrant visitors. Such counties include Norway, The Netherlands, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The USA only screens immigrants who will settle permanently in USA. Screening policies and methods are highly variable, but many of the screening systems are not working well. The effectiveness of mass screening on entrance by chest X-ray, as a tuberculosis control program, is not well analyzed, and the validity of such screening is questionable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is not accurate to think that a tuberculosis-screening program for foreign-born people on entrance to a country is an effective world standard. We must adopt a wider perspective in planning a tuberculosis control program for foreign-born people, including community-based approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Tokyo National Hospital, Japan. etoyota-in@tokyo-hosp.jp
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Toyota
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D009656:North America / Q000208:ethnology; D044349:Oceania / Q000208:ethnology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*