Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection After Travel to or Contact With Visitors From Countries With a High Prevalence of Tuberculosis

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection After Travel to or Contact With Visitors From Countries With a High Prevalence of Tuberculosis

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (12/98) Vol. 158, No. 6, P. 1871
Lobato, Mark N.; Hopewell, Philip C.

Researchers have concluded that children who travel to countries with high tuberculosis rates have a greater chance of having a positive skin test reaction for the disease. The study of 953 California children younger than six years of age also showed that children in households that had received guests from these high-prevalence countries were also at increased risk of positive skin test. The researchers defined high prevalence areas as countries having a tuberculosis rate greater than 100 cases per 100,000 and are in Latin America, Asia or the Pacific Ocean, or Africa. Children who spent more than one week in a high-rate country in the prior 12 months were 3.9 times more likely to test TB-positive, while those exposed to visitors from those countries were 2.4 times more likely to test positive for tuberculosis than those who did not have a visitor. Children born in the United States who had traveled were 4.7 times more likely to test positive. Overall, 7.6 percent of the subjects had positive reaction to skin tests. The authors assert that it is unlikely false-positive rates were elevated due to BCG vaccination or reaction to non- tuberculosis mycobacteria. They suggest that, based on the study results, tuberculosis control programs should investigate travel and household visitors in their analysis of children who have positive skin tests for TB and that children who have traveled to or had visitors from high-prevalence areas should be considered for testing.

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