Call for 'aggressive tracing' to be option in treating TB

A system of "aggressive tracing" should be considered to allow health service personnel track down and, if necessary, offer treatment to people who have been in close contact with people with tuberculosis, a Dublin medical consultant told a conference to mark World TB Day yesterday.

Dr Brendan Keogh of the Mater hospital also urged that public health structures should be put in place to provide direct observation therapy - where patients are watched while taking medication for the condition.

He said there would also remain a need for a small number of hospital isolation and longer-stay facilities.

Dr Keogh told the conference at the Mater hospital that there were around 400 cases of TB in Ireland each year.

He said that around 20 per cent to 30 per cent of these cases were foreign-born.

Dr Keogh said he did not advocate a screening programme for the condition, but that the introduction of a system of aggressive contact tracing should be considered.

He said this would involve professional public health staff calling to the houses of patients with TB and seeking to track down those they have been in contact with.

Dr Keogh said this system was in operation in the United States and was under consideration in Britain.

He said that 30 per cent to 40 per cent of people who were in close contact with a person with TB would become infected.

However, he said this did not mean that they would develop the condition, and around 3 per cent of contact cases would develop TB.

Dr Keogh said a person with the condition was generally required to remain in isolation for two weeks.

He said the majority of people with the condition could remain in isolation at home, but for a small number of cases hospital facilities would be required.