Prevention of tuberculosis - Vigilance and infection control strategies are mainstays of efforts

Once on the decline, tuberculosis (TB) began a resurgence in the 1980s with the emergence of the AIDS epidemic and overwhelming urban social problems. Today, the threat of a TB outbreak still looms in community settings such as nursing homes, hospitals, and homeless shelters. Efforts to control the spread of TB must rely on the vigilance of physicians who treat high-risk p opulations and the implementation of infection control strategies. The auth ors of this article describe the components of an occupational control prog ram that relies on currently available tools, including prophylaxis for inf ected persons and high-risk groups.