Risk Groups

Who is at risk for TB?

It is estimated that up to 10% of people infected with M. tuberculosis will develop active TB in their lifetime. About one-quarter of the world’s population has a TB infection. The vast majority have no signs or symptoms of TB disease and are not infectious, although they are at risk of developing active TB disease and becoming infectious.

The WHO recommends systematic latent TB testing for TB risk groups, including (1):

Adults, adolescents, children and infants living with HIV
Children aged ≥ 5 years, adolescents and adults who are contacts of TB patients
Patients initiating anti-TNF treatment, receiving dialysis, preparing for organ, hematological transplantation or have silicosis

The purpose of TB screening is to find cases at an early asymptomatic phase that is easily curable and find latent TB infection (LTBI) among individuals who may benefit from preventive treatment.

Female doctor talking to older male patient

TB risk groups: biologics

Treatment with biologic agents, in particular tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors, has revolutionized the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis. However, patients receiving anti-TNF-α therapy are at increased risk of TB infection.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively impacting TB testing services

International efforts have succeeded in slowing the COVID-19 pandemic, but responding to COVID-19 has also forced disruption of TB control programs around the globe. Such disruption may reverse between 5 and 8 years of progress against TB, with a recent report released by Stop TB suggesting the potential for an additional 1.4 million tuberculosis deaths by 2025, due to COVID-19-related disruption to TB prevention services (2).

Finding ways to integrate TB and COVID-19 care programs

Dr. Alistair Story, from London’s Find&Treat mobile health service discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the service and how the lessons learned through years of running the service has helped it to manage the additional burden of COVID-19.

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Improve TB screening with QFT-Plus

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References:

World Health Organization. (2020) WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis: tuberculosis preventive treatment. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331170/9789240001503-eng.pdf
Stop TB Partnership in collaboration with Imperial College, Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University and USAID. The potential impact of the COVID-19 response on tuberculosis in high-burden countries: a modeling analysis.

QFT-Plus is an in vitro diagnostic aid for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. QFT-Plus is an indirect test for M. tuberculosis infection (including disease) and is intended for use in conjunction with risk assessment, radiography, and other medical and diagnostic evaluations. QFT-Plus Package Inserts, available in multiple languages, as well as up-to-date licensing information and product-specific disclaimers can be found at www.QuantiFERON.com.