TY - JOUR T1 - Results of retrospective study of TB contact investigations in Iasi County, Romania JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p4366 AU - Adriana Sorete Arbore AU - Violeta Cojocariu AU - Rodica Sorete Arbore Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4366.abstract N2 - Romania, EU country with high TB incidence, with programmatic TB control, implemented DOTS since 1998.Aim: To assess the role of contact tracing in detection and prevention of appearance of TB new cases in an area with high TB case notification rate.Method: Retrospective study of the records from 1998, 1999 for 1341 TB definite cases. Follow up of the house hold contacts included TST, chest X ray, INH preventive therapy.Results: 836 contacts, 0-14 years, were identified from 467 “source” TB cases.At index case detection, 287 (43, 7%) contacts were TST positive, 224 (26, 7%) had chest X-ray.51,7% received INH preventive therapy 3-12 months.16,4% had no records about TST, chest X ray or preventive therapy.At the initial checking of the contacts, 7 active TB cases were detected; other 36 active TB cases were registered in the next 10 years.62,7% (27) TB cases in contacts were registered in the first 3 years.1,7% of the contacts developed TB in the first year, 1, 45% in the next 2 years.7 contacts with no initial records developed active TB later.Conclusions: 5,1% of the TB contacts developed TB disease in the 10 years follow up period of time.Effective contact investigation and prevention of TB spreading in house hold contacts should consider:Lack of algorithm for contact tracing (no clear moments for contact follow up after the first control) in the NTP,The recommended tools for investigation of contacts were not entirely used,Different approaches for preventive therapy regarding number of months, doses, monitoring of treatment,Lack of knowledge in the group of patients, their families and GPs' network regarding the importance of preventive therapy and also about periodic control. ER -