Are neighbourhoods of tuberculosis cases a high-risk population for active intervention? A protocol for tuberculosis active case finding

PLoS One. 2021 Aug 13;16(8):e0256043. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256043. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Background: Indonesia has the second largest tuberculosis (TB) burden globally. Attempts to scale-up TB control efforts have focused on TB households. However, in most high burden settings, considerable Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) transmission occurs outside TB households. A better understanding of transmission dynamics in an urban setting in Indonesia will be crucial for the TB Control Program in scaling up efforts towards elimination of TB in a more targeted way. Therefore, the study aims to measure TB prevalence and incidence in household contacts and neighbourhoods in the vicinity of known TB cases and to assess their genomic and epidemiological relatedness.

Methods and analysis: Individuals (~1000) living in the same household as a case diagnosed with pulmonary TB (n = 250) or in a neighbouring household (~4500 individuals) will be screened for TB symptoms and by chest x-ray. Two sputum samples will be collected for microbiological analysis from anyone with a productive cough. Any person found to have TB will be treated by the National TB Control Program. All those with no evidence of TB disease will have a repeat screen at 12 months. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and social network analysis (SNA) will be conducted on Index cases and contacts diagnosed with TB.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Contact Tracing / methods*
  • Cough / diagnosis*
  • Cough / microbiology
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control*
  • Epidemiologic Research Design
  • Humans
  • Indonesia / epidemiology
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / isolation & purification*
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / pathogenicity
  • Prevalence
  • Radiography / methods
  • Risk Factors
  • Tuberculosis / diagnosis*
  • Tuberculosis / epidemiology
  • Tuberculosis / microbiology
  • Tuberculosis / transmission
  • Whole Genome Sequencing / methods*

Grants and funding

Funding for this research comes from: 1. The e-Asia Joint Research Program administered through the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Contract No. 19/897 (award receiver: SMM). URL: https://www.the-easia.org/ 2. Indonesian Research and Technology Grant/National Research and Innovation Agency administered through Universitas Padjadjaran, Contract No 1827/UN6.3.1/LT/2020 (award receiver: BA). URL: https://www.brin.go.id/ The funders had and will not have a role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.