[Longitudinal follow-up of contact subjects of cases of tuberculosis in Paris]

AIM

To our knowledge, the proportion of active tuberculosis diagnosed after 12-18 months during a screening tuberculosis process in a specialized centre (centre de lutte antituberculeuse [CLAT]) has not been described in France. The majority of other countries do not have any recommendation to screen at this time.

METHODS

We evaluated the number of treated or not treated latent tuberculosis infections (LTI) identified during tuberculosis screening. We identified the causes of ITL non-treatment, the number of active disease cases and the proportion of subjects lost to follow-up after 12-18 months.

RESULTS

Among the 1066 contact subjects, 159 (15 %) had a positive QuantiFERON-TB-Gold In-Tube(®) test. A prophylactic treatment with Rifinah(®) was given to 97 (61 %) subjects, 7 (7.3 %) having developed side effects that led to treatment interruption. A high proportion (56 %) of contact subjects were lost of follow-up and the main reason for no prophylactic treatment (20/52, 38 %) was due to these losses. No active disease cases were identified among the 474 (44 %) contact subjects who had a chest X-ray after 12-18 months follow-up by the CLAT. The low level of positive QuantiFERON-TB-Gold In-Tube(®) tests (15 %) could be explained by the high specificity of this test and the strong proportion of occupational contacts, of whom a probably significant number were not exposed to active disease.

CONCLUSION

The absence of active disease at 12-18 months and a majority (56 %) of contact subjects lost from follow-up at this period let us propose not to recall contact subjects at 12-18 months with the exception of those living under the same roof as the index case and/or those having a cumulative contact time of greater than 100 hours during the theoretical infectious period. This proposal remains to be confirmed by other studies, particularly including possible secondary cases diagnosed outside the screening periods by the CLAT.

Tuberculosis control in big cities and urban risk groups in the European Union: a consensus statement

In low-incidence countries in the European Union (EU), tuberculosis (TB) is concentrated in big cities, especially among certain urban high-risk groups including immigrants from TB high-incidence countries, homeless people, and those with a history of drug and alcohol misuse. Elimination of TB in European big cities requires control measures focused on multiple layers of the urban population. The particular complexities of major EU metropolises, for example high population density and social structure, create specific opportunities for transmission, but also enable targeted TB control interventions, not efficient in the general population, to be effective or cost effective. Lessons can be learnt from across the EU and this consensus statement on TB control in big cities and urban risk groups was prepared by a working group representing various EU big cities, brought together on the initiative of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The consensus statement describes general and specific social, educational, operational, organisational, legal and monitoring TB control interventions in EU big cities, as well as providing recommendations for big city TB control, based upon a conceptual TB transmission and control model.

Management and treatment outcomes of tuberculous patients, eastern Paris, France, 2004

BACKGROUND

France was one of the few European countries without a national tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcome monitoring system until 2007.

OBJECTIVE

To examine TB management and treatment outcomes in the eastern Paris region, and to identify patient- and management-dependent factors affecting treatment outcome.

METHODS

This retrospective study focused on all cases of microbiologically confirmed Mycobacterium tuberculosis cases diagnosed in 2004 in the eastern Paris region, one of the areas of France with the highest frequency of TB.

RESULTS

Treatment outcomes of 629 identified cases (males 69.6%, median age 37 years, socio-economically disadvantaged 44%, foreign-born 78%) were as follows: treatment success 70.1% (95%CI 66.5-73.7), treatment interruption 4.9% (95%CI 3.2-6.6), loss to follow-up 15.0% (95%CI 12.2-17.8), death 5.7% (95%CI 3.9-7.9), transfers 4.3% (95%CI 3.5-5.1). Non-completion of treatment was associated with sputum smear positivity, injection drug use, non-adherence and irregular follow-up in univariate analysis, and with irregular follow-up and non-adherence in multivariate analysis. Duration of TB treatment and follow-up medical visits were not applied as recommended in more than a third of cases.

CONCLUSION

The treatment success rate observed in this study (70.1%) is below the World Health Organization target of 85%, and requires the implementation and evaluation of interventions to increase treatment success rates.

Tuberculosis in European cities: establishment of a patient monitoring system over 10 years in Paris, France

BACKGROUND

Tuberculosis (TB) is a persistent public health problem in European cities. France has been unable to report on treatment outcomes until now, and it is not known whether the World Health Organization (WHO) target cure rate of 85% has been met.

METHODS

All patients placed under treatment in four hospitals and five out-patient Social Medical Centres in Paris were followed up between 1996 and 2005. Patient monitoring and evaluation were performed using a new software programme, TB-INFO.

RESULTS

In a cohort of 1127 patients, 76% had pulmonary TB, of whom 39% were smear-positive, 81% were foreign-born and 9.3% were human immunodeficiency virus positive. At the end of the follow-up, 16% were cured and 54% had completed treatment. Among the 1118 non-multidrug-resistant patients, these percentages were 17% and 46%, respectively, for smear-positive pulmonary patients. Some patients died (1.9%) or failed treatment (0.1%), but many more defaulted (20.5%) as they interrupted treatment (1.5%), were lost to follow-up (19.5%) or were transferred out (7.9%).

CONCLUSIONS

This 10-year follow-up of TB patients, managed with TB-INFO software, shows that a patient monitoring system can be implemented in France, providing essential information. Treatment success in this cohort of patients was far below the WHO target.

Outbreak of tuberculosis in a migrants' shelter, Paris, France, 2002

SETTING

An overcrowded 362-bed migrants' shelter in Paris, France.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB), to identify a common source of contamination and to prevent further transmission.

METHODS

The outbreak was identified by radiographic screening and an active search for undeclared hospital treated cases, completed by strain phenotyping and a search for contact cases.

RESULTS

Between October 2001 and October 2002, 56 cases of active TB were identified, 30 by radiological screening and 20 by contacting neighbouring hospitals. All cases involved men, with a median age of 30 years. Pulmonary involvement was present in 54% of cases, and nine patients were sputum smear-positive. Thirty-four of the 37 phenotyped strains clustered together.

CONCLUSION

The grouping of the cases in time and place, the large number of cases with early-stage disease and the identical RFLP banding patterns of most of the isolates indicate that this outbreak results from transmission that occurred in France. This report underlines the need for public health departments in industrialised countries to maintain effective anti-tuberculosis control programmes.

La lutte antituberculeuse en France : évaluation des pratiques par un groupe de travail de la SPLF auprès des services de lutte antituberculeuse

INTRODUCTION

The management of tuberculosis has been the subject of renewed interest in France. Recently, the recommendations and the regulations concerning the disease have been updated. However, the resources that are actually available and the processes in place in different French departments are not clearly known. A national survey was thus carried out by a working group of the SPLF in charge of the recommendations concerning the medical, social and administrative management of the disease.

METHODS

A questionnaire was sent to the 100 French departmental Antituberculous Services (SLAT). This explored the structures, activity, organisation involved, and difficulties encountered in Tuberculosis management.

RESULTS

Ninety SLAT took part in the study. Their answers reveal: a discordance between a number of cases notified to the Department of Sanitation and Health (DDASS) and the number of cases known to the SLAT; a disparity between means involved in this study and the number of patients followed up as well as the choice of populations targeted for tracing); a willingness to deal with contact tracing although the investigations around individual cases and the definition of which subjects should be followed up were variable; a demand for protocols, networks and national recommendations.

CONCLUSIONS

The SLAT are involved in the fight against tuberculosis with 20 years experience. The needs expressed in this survey point the way towards future prioritary actions to improve tuberculosis control nationally.

[Epidemiologic followup of cases of tuberculosis in the medical-social centers of Paris for the year 1994]

This study was carried out in 280 patients in 1994 in five medico-social centres (CMS) in the city of Paris for the follow up of treatment tuberculous disease. The group represented approximately one fifth of the tuberculous patients in Paris. 90.7% of the subjects were of foreign origin, predominantly African. Amongst these 280 patients, 80% were unemployed and 64.6% without social security protection. Their tuberculous disease did not differ on clinical grounds from those of the general population but they were less often vaccinated with BCG. They are also less often co-infected with the HIV virus (4.4 vs 12-16%). The level of resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin was 1.4%. A cure was certainly achieved in 73.5% of the patients. For the remainder, the absence of information and the loss to follow up prevented us from having a definite answer. The patients lost to follow numbered 56 and represented 20% of the group.

[Pentamidine aerosol in the preventive treatment of pneumocystosis in AIDS patients. Comparison of two salts and two nebulizers]

In a randomized trial conducted in AIDS patients requiring prophylaxis against pneumocystosis we compared two pentamidine salts, isethionate (I) and mesylate (M), and two nebulizers (a modified ultrasonic Ultraneb 99 Devilbiss nebulizer, and a disposable jet nebulizer). Patients were randomized to one or the other nebulizer and received alternatively, once every other week, the two pentamidine salts in the IMIM or MIMI order. Characteristics and the side effects of the two courses of each pentamidine salt, as well as drug delivery by each nebulizer during the first course, were studied in 48 patients. The ultrasonic nebulizer was more effective (nebulization time: 19.8 +/- 7.3 mn versus 30.7 +/- 11 mn) and produced less side-effects (FEV1 decrease: 186 +/- 677 versus 571 +/- 708 ml) than the jet nebulizer. The mesylate salt tended to produce more side-effects than the isethionate, but the difference was not significant (FEV1 decreases: 439 +/- 688 ml and 295 +/- 756 ml respectively). We concluded that the best therapeutic procedure is to use pentamidine isethionate delivered by the ultrasonic nebulizer.

[Aspects of pneumocystosis seen in a French pneumonology department in 1987-1988]

Over a 2 years' period, 49 AIDS patients and 3 non AIDS patients were treated for pneumocystosis in our chest department. Forty-six were male and 6 were female. Pneumocystosis was the first opportunistic infection in 77 p 100 of patients. Fever above 38.5 degrees C was the major symptom in 92 p 100. Cough was present in 90 p 100 and dyspnoea in 94 p 100. Clinical symptoms had begun 21.7 +/- 15.7 days before diagnosis. Mean PaO2 value was 50.9 +/- 15.7 mmHg. Forty-eight patients were initially treated by daily intravenous administration of trimethoprim 960 mg and sulfamethoxazole 4,800 mg. Three patients received a pentamidine aerosol and one received DFMO. Treatment was effective in 39 patients; 11 patients died between the 5th and the 29th days of treatment; 2 had an early relapse. Fever disappeared after 9.8 +/- 6.6 days, and blood gases returned to normal within 10.8 +/- 7.7 days. All patients whose PaO2 was above 56 mmHg were cured. Thus, the trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole combination proved active in the treatment of pneumocystosis. Other treatments are useful in case of side-effects or failure of the initial therapy. Failures can be suspected on the fourth day of treatment and in such cases CMV co-infection must be looked for and treated.