TUBERCULOSIS IN A COHORT OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES AFTER ARRIVAL IN DENMARK 1979-1982

Citation
Jtr. Wilcke et al., TUBERCULOSIS IN A COHORT OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES AFTER ARRIVAL IN DENMARK 1979-1982, The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease, 2(3), 1998, pp. 219-224
Citations number
31
Categorie Soggetti
Respiratory System","Infectious Diseases
ISSN journal
10273719
Volume
2
Issue
3
Year of publication
1998
Pages
219 - 224
Database
ISI
SICI code
1027-3719(1998)2:3<219:TIACOV>2.0.ZU;2-K
Abstract
SETTING: Department of Infectious Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen , Denmark. OBJECTIVE: To study the occurrence of tuberculosis (TB) in a cohort of immigrants from a high incidence country during the years following arrival in a low incidence country. DESIGN: Follow-up analys is in a cohort of 1 983 Vietnamese refugees who arrived in Denmark dur ing the period 1979-1982. The civil registration number could be ident ified for 1 936 (98%) individuals from the original cohort. Date of po ssible death, emigration and the development of tuberculosis were dete rmined by checking the refugees' civil registration number in the Nati onal Civil Register and the National Infectious Disease Registry for T uberculosis. RESULTS: Tuberculosis notification for the 1936 individua ls fell from 1.14% for the first 12 months to a mean of 0.08% per year during the following 5-year period. During the 16 years of follow up, 36 of the refugees developed tuberculosis, of whom 14 (39%) had had a bnormal chest X-ray on arrival and 14 (39%) (including one with normal chest X-ray) had been identified as having active tuberculosis throug h screening on arrival. CONCLUSION: Decline in tuberculosis incidence for immigrants is very rapid if the tuberculosis infection rate is low following arrival. With a very limited TB screening programme (chest X-ray on arrival) and a passive diagnosis policy without preventive ch emotherapy, it is possible to control tuberculosis among high prevalen ce immigrants in a low incidence country.