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Transmission of Tuberculosis in Resource-Limited Settings

  • Co-infections (MA Jacobson, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Unrecognized transmission is a major contributor to ongoing TB epidemics in high-burden, resource-constrained settings. Limitations in diagnosis, treatment, and infection control in health-care and community settings allow for continued transmission of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB, particularly in regions of high HIV prevalence. Health-care facilities are common sites of TB transmission. Improved implementation of infection control practices appropriate for the local setting and in combination, has been associated with reduced transmission. Community settings account for the majority of TB transmission and deserve increased focus. Strengthening and intensifying existing high-yield strategies, including household contact tracing, can reduce onward TB transmission. Recent studies documenting high transmission risk community sites and strategies for community-based intensive case finding hold promise for feasible, effective transmission reduction. Infection control in community settings has been neglected and requires urgent attention. Developing and implementing improved strategies for decreasing transmission to children, within prisons and of drug-resistant TB are needed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation International Clinical Research Fellowship (ICRF) Program (TK) and the NIAID K23 Career Development Award Program (SS)

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Conflict of Interest

The authors do not declare any conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article contains reference to studies with human subjects conducted by the authors. Informed consent was obtained from study subjects and the studies were approved by the University of KwaZuluNatal and Yale University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston University School of Medicine, 72 E. Concord Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Tejaswi Kompala

  2. Philanjalo Care Centre, Tugela Ferry, South Africa

    Tejaswi Kompala

  3. Yale University School of Medicine, 135 College Street, AIDS Suite 323, New Haven, CT, USA

    Sheela V. Shenoi & Gerald Friedland

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  1. Tejaswi Kompala
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  2. Sheela V. Shenoi
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Correspondence to Gerald Friedland.

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Kompala, T., Shenoi, S.V. & Friedland, G. Transmission of Tuberculosis in Resource-Limited Settings. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep 10, 264–272 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-013-0164-x

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