Tuberculosis among immigrants: our experience

Abstract number: 1733_1110

Antypa A., Pouyiouka M., Spanos E., Petrochilou K., Karabassi V., Paraskeva K., Alexandropoulos N., Toutouza M.

Tuberculosis is an airborne pathogen, propelled through tiny droplets via sneezing, talking or coughing. The disease is extremely widespread: one person in three worldwide has the infection and two million die annually from TB. Mass immigration from developing countries entails the risk of an increased rate of tuberculosis in our country.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of tuberculosis among legal immigrants who asked for lawful permanent residency Green Cards.

Methods: The study population consisted of 1,460 (638 males and 822 females) immigrants aged 15–65 years old, who came to our hospital for examination, the period from 12.10.2005 to 02.05.2006. Their countries of origin were mainly Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, 'the former Soviet Union', countries of Africa and South-Eastern Asia.

Tuberculin skin testing was performed on all study subjects upon enrollment, according to the routine procedures. A tuberculin skin test reaction size >10 mm was considered positive for all study participants. They were all examined with a posterior-anterior chest radiograph to detect chest abnormalities. A short history of TB exposure, infection, or disease was asked though in many cases it was difficult to communicate with them.

Results: 96 persons found tuberculin skin test positive with negative history of B.C.G. and 69 (4.9% of all the examined) of them had positive findings for pulmonary active Tb, from their chest radiograph. We sent the positives to the hospital of Chest diseases to be cured.

Conclusions: Screening for TB on arrival should be strengthened, and preventive therapy for those with recent TB infection should be considered. Healthcare professionals need to be aware that immigrants from countries with a relatively high prevalence of TB are a risk for countries with low prevalence of TB.