Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria

Prevention

Tuberculosis prevention and control efforts rely primarily on the vaccination of infants and the detection and appropriate treatment of active cases. The World Health Organization has achieved some success with improved treatment regimens, and a small decrease in case numbers. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening people who are at high risk for latent tuberculosis with either tuberculin skin tests or interferon-gamma release assays.

TB education is also necessary for the general public. The public needs to know basic information about TB for a number of reasons including reducing the stigma still associated with TB.

TB prevention consists of two main parts. The first part of TB prevention is to stop the transmission of TB from one adult to another. This is done through firstly, identifying people with active TB, and then curing them through the provision of drug treatment. With proper TB treatment someone with TB will very quickly not be infectious and so can no longer spread the disease to others. The second main part of TB prevention is to prevent people with latent TB from developing active, and infectious, TB disease.