The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently published the final recommendation statement as well as evidence summary about screening at-risk adults for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection.
The latest evidence shows that effective screening is useful for protecting adults who are considered at risk for latent TB infections. This means that even though they are at risk, they do not have any of the symptoms of TB, as in regular TB cases.
People with increased risks have lived or were born in countries with higher TB rates, such as China, India, Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines and Vietnam. In addition, people living in group settings in TB areas, like correctional facilities and homeless shelters, are also at higher risk of developing latent TB infections.
"The task force recommends that primary care clinicians screen adults at increased risk for LTBI to help prevent the progression to active TB," USPSTF member Francisco Garcia said. "TB is a highly contagious, devastating disease. The best approach to prevention is identifying those populations at high risk for exposure as well as those individuals whose underlying medical disease may make them more susceptible to TB infection."
The final recommendation states that the last 20 years of research support screening of at-risk adults.
"The task force found that there are effective screening tests that can detect latent TB infection, and there are effective treatments to prevent people from progressing from latent TB infection to active TB disease," USPSTF Chair Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo said.
