Suchergebnisse

Tuberculosis (TB) is a priority in terms of incidence and mortality, with about 10.4 million new incident cases and 1.8 million deaths in 2015. The End-TB strategy recently launched by the World Health Organization in the context of the post-2015 agenda, aimed to achieve TB elimination, represents an evolution of the previous historical strategies originally aimed to achieve TB control. Globally, the current decline in TB incidence is rather slow at approximately 1,5% per year to reach the TB pre-elimination phase by 2035 (A more aggressive approach based on diagnosis and treatment of latently infected individuals has been proposed in the context of TB elimination to ensure future generations free of TB. We describes 4 scenarios which, combined, describe the TB epidemiology in a given setting: 1) in absence of interventions, 2) with early TB diagnosis and effective treatment, 3) with irregular TB treatment, 4) with TB co-infected by HIV not undergoing anti-retroviral treatment. To achieve TB Elimination, a more concerted action by funders and governments will be required for further investments into TB prevention, detection and treatment.

Globally 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) incident cases were estimated to have occurred in 2015, of which 3% were reported in the World Health Organization European Region. Importantly, about 25% of the global multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases are reported in the European Region, representing one of the greatest challenges to TB control; these are reported particularly in the countries of the Former Soviet Union. Over a quarter of TB cases in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) are reported among foreign-born individuals. In line with the recent increase of migration flows towards Europe, TB among migrant populations is also on the rise, emphasizing the need for a better understanding of the TB trends at the regional and sub-regional levels, and of the existing policies on migrants and refugees. The present article is aimed at describing the policies and practices of European countries with a low and intermediate TB incidence with regard to the detection and management of TB and latent TB infection (LTBI) among refugees in Europe.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) jointly developed European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ESTC) aimed at providing European Union (EU)-tailored standards for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis (TB).

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) jointly developed European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ESTC) aimed at providing European Union (EU)-tailored standards for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis (TB). The International Standards for TB Care (ISTC) were developed in the global context and are not always adapted to the EU setting and practices. The majority of EU countries have the resources and capacity to implement higher standards to further secure quality TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention. On this basis, the ESTC were developed as standards specifically tailored to the EU setting. A panel of 30 international experts, led by a writing group and the ERS and ECDC, identified and developed the 21 ESTC in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, HIV and comorbid conditions, and public health and prevention. The ISTCs formed the basis for the 21 standards, upon which additional EU adaptations and supplements were developed. These patient-centred standards are targeted to clinicians and public health workers, providing an easy-to-use resource, guiding through all required activities to ensure optimal diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB. These will support EU health programmes to identify and develop optimal procedures for TB care, control and elimination.