Study Examines Strategy to ID Patients Living With TB

A Lancet Infectious Diseases study examines a strategy called "intensified case finding," which is used to identify and treat people with tuberculosis by screening patients living with or thought to be at high-risk for HIV/AIDS. The authors report, "In countries with high prevalence of tuberculosis, intensified case finding among individuals infected with HIV identifies a high yield of people with tuberculosis and the yield is significantly increased if all such individuals are screened microbiologically without preselection on the basis of the screening of symptoms." They conclude, "Concerted action in tandem with further research might help develop this policy as an important method to accelerate progress towards the tuberculosis targets within the sixth Millennium Development Goal" (Kranzer et al., Feb. 2010).

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