Tuberculosis: Clinical Diagnosis and Management of Tuberculosis, and Measures for Its Prevention and Control

Excerpt

This guideline deals with activities undertaken by professionals in the NHS with the aims of diagnosing primary cases of tuberculosis (TB), identifying secondary cases, treating active disease, controlling latent infection and preventing further transmission. At a population level, the combined result of these activities should be to curb and then reverse the increase in TB seen in England and Wales in recent years. TB is a disease of poverty, and specific groups of the population are at heightened risk. To address this, the guideline provides recommendations, wherever there is evidence to support it, on ways of organising services efficiently to provide the best possible care. Almost all cases of TB are preventable, and almost all people with TB can be cured.