文章基本信息

标题：A No-Name Tuberculosis Tracking System
本地全文：下载
作者：Dennis Y. Kim ; Renee Ridzon ; Beverly Giles 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2003
卷号：93
期号：10
页码：1637-1639
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Foreign-born persons from countries where tuberculosis (TB) is endemic make up a significant percentage of poultry industry workers in Delaware, a leading poultry-producing state. Many of these workers enter the United States without documentation and assume multiple identities, making it difficult for public health staff to investigate TB contacts who work in the poultry plants. The Sussex County Health Unit of the Delaware Division of Public Health developed a no-name TB tracking system to facilitate identification and treatment of poultry plant workers with TB infection and disease in a high-risk population whose members assume one or more aliases. Completion rates for treatment of latent TB infection in this group increased from 48% to 64% 2 years after the program’s implementation. IN DELAWARE, A LEADING poultry-producing state, a large part of the poultry workforce is composed of people from countries with high rates of tuberculosis (TB). In Sussex County, 70% of the estimated 6000 poultry workers are foreign born; 50% come from Mexico and Guatemala, where TB is endemic. 1 Many workers enter the United States without documentation and obtain falsified identification cards to work. A single individual may assume many identities, or a single identity may be used by many people. These practices make it difficult for public health staff to investigate the contacts of TB patients who are plant workers. In 1998, the TB case rate in Sussex County was 7.6 cases per 100 000, whereas the estimated rate for poultry plant workers ranged from 83.3 cases per 100 000 to 150.0 cases per 100 000 (Delaware TB Elimination Program, unpublished data). From 1993 to 1998, 35 of 78 of Sussex County TB cases (44%) were associated with a poultry plant; of these, 34 were in foreign-born persons.