title: Screening for tuberculosis in family and household contacts in a rural area in Ethiopia over a 20-month period.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of the completion of the Tuberculosis (TB) Contact Screening Logbook (TB-CSL). The TB-CSL was retrospectively analyzed from July 2007 until June 2012. During the study period, 122 patients were included in the TB-CSL; however, 17 (13.9%) patients with TB were written in the TB-CSL, but without registering any contacts. Of the 105 TB patients with contacts registered, the family and household contacts were finally performed in 68 index TB patients (55.7% of TB patients). These 68 index TB cases had 299 family and household contacts; the median contact per patient was 4.4 (±1.9). Of the 299 contacts, 160 (53.5%) were screened. The median of those screened per patient was 2.3 (±1.9). Of the 160 family and household contacts screened, 34 (31.3%) of them were children ⩽5years of age. TB was diagnosed after screening in 16 (10.1%) contacts. Isoniazid preventive therapy was prescribed in 22 of 34 (64%) children <5years of age. Alternative methods should be implemented in rural areas to improve TB screening contacts, especially in children under 5years of age.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Paediatrics, Gambo General Rural Hospital, Shashemane, Ethiopia; Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain; Department of Medicine, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain. Electronic address: jramosrincon@yahoo.es.
authors.forename: Jose Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Paediatrics, Gambo General Rural Hospital, Shashemane, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Dejere
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Biru
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Paediatrics, Gambo General Rural Hospital, Shashemane, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tesfamariam
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Paediatrics, Gambo General Rural Hospital, Shashemane, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Paediatrics, Gambo General Rural Hospital, Shashemane, Ethiopia; Division of Infectious Diseases, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain; Department of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Górgolas
keywords: Isoniazid preventive therapy; Paediatric tuberculosis; Screening; Tuberculosis