IS NEW IMMIGRANT SCREENING FOR TUBERCULOSIS STILL WORTHWHILE

Background: new immigrant screening in the 1980s showed that the offic ial Port of Arrival (POA) system performed poorly that there was a sig nificant yield in terms of clinical tuberculosis, and that preventive measures (chemoprophylaxis and BCG) were appropriate in a substantial minority Data for the 1990s was sought far comparison. Methods: prospe ctive data on new immigrant screening for 1990-1994 inclusive in the B lackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley local government areas were analy sed, and compared with previous 1983-1988 data. Results: of the 2242 n ew immigrants screened, 1333 were from Pakistan, 604 from India and 30 5 from the rest of the world. A total of 898 (40%) were found via the POA system, but 1344 (60%) were only identified by local links with th e Family Health Services Authority (FHSA). Ten cases of active tubercu losis were found (0.45%), chemoprophylaxis was given to 19/465 (4.1%) of children aged 0-15 years, and BCG vaccination to 530/1705 (31%) of those aged under 30 years.Conclusions: between 1990-1994 the official POA system continued to perform poorly. The yield of new tuberculosis cases detected was lower than in the 1980s. Chemoprophylaxis at 4% and BCG vaccination at 31% showed that preventive health measures were ap propriate for over one-third of new immigrants aged under 30.