Abstract
Evidence-based guidance is needed on i) how tuberculosis (TB) infectiousness evolves in response to effective treatment and ii) how the TB infection risk can be minimised to help countries to implement community-based, outpatient-based care.
This document aims to review the available evidence on 1) how quickly TB infectiousness responds to effective treatment (and which factors can lower or boost infectiousness); 2) policy options on the infectiousness of TB patients relevant to the World Health Organization European Region; 3) define limitations of the available evidence and 4) provide recommendations for further research.
The consensus document aims to target all professionals dealing with TB (e.g. TB specialists, pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, primary health care professionals, and other clinical and public health professionals), as well as health staff working in settings where TB infection is prevalent.
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Migliori has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Nardell has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Yedilbayev has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Centis has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Tadolini has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. van den Boom has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Ehsani has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Sotgiu has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Dara has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. D'Ambrosio has nothing to disclose.
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