MUMBAI: India could learn a lesson from the American practice of screening people for tuberculosis.The Center for Diseases Control in Atlanta said on Sunday that its updated recommendations for overseas tuberculosis (TB) screening of immigrants and refugees identified hundreds of cases that otherwise would have gone undetected until after arrival in the United States. "It saved taxpayers an additional $15 million in medical costs," said the release.
In 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, overseas physicians identified more than 1,100 cases of tuberculosis, including 14 cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB.
"Due to screening changes that require newer, more sensitive sputum-culture tests, about 60 % of the cases — about 660 cases plus the 14 MDR TB cases — would not previously have been identified and treated prior to coming to the United States," said the release.
TB is one of the most infectious diseases in the world, affecting over one-third of the world's population.
The US has had a TB testing protocol for immigrants since the early 1900s. Prior to 2007, applicants received a chest X-ray and microscopic sputum smear test to identify persons with active TB.
Those who had a positive smear test received TB treatment prior to arriving in the United States. But the US now uses sophisticated tests to detect TB (A gene-based test called the GeneXpert is being hailed as the game-changer in detection of drug-resistant TB as it can isolate the microbes in two hours as against the three-month average of other tests).
In 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, overseas physicians identified more than 1,100 cases of tuberculosis, including 14 cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB.
"Due to screening changes that require newer, more sensitive sputum-culture tests, about 60 % of the cases — about 660 cases plus the 14 MDR TB cases — would not previously have been identified and treated prior to coming to the United States," said the release.
TB is one of the most infectious diseases in the world, affecting over one-third of the world's population.
The US has had a TB testing protocol for immigrants since the early 1900s. Prior to 2007, applicants received a chest X-ray and microscopic sputum smear test to identify persons with active TB.
Those who had a positive smear test received TB treatment prior to arriving in the United States. But the US now uses sophisticated tests to detect TB (A gene-based test called the GeneXpert is being hailed as the game-changer in detection of drug-resistant TB as it can isolate the microbes in two hours as against the three-month average of other tests).
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