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Case Reports
. 2019 Jun;24(24):1900332.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.24.1900332.

High rate of transmission in a pulmonary tuberculosis outbreak in a primary school, north-eastern Italy, 2019

Sandro Cinquetti  1 , Maria Dalmanzio  1 , Elisa Ros  1 , Davide Gentili  1   2 , Mauro Ramigni  3 , Adriano Grossi  4   5 , Xanthi D Andrianou  5   6 , Leonardo Ermanno La Torre  7 , Roberto Rigoli  8 , Pier Giorgio Scotton  9 , Angela Taraschi  10 , Vincenzo Baldo  11 , Giuseppina Napoletano  12 , Francesca Russo  12 , Patrizio Pezzotti  5 , Giovanni Rezza  5 , Antonietta Filia  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

High rate of transmission in a pulmonary tuberculosis outbreak in a primary school, north-eastern Italy, 2019

Sandro Cinquetti et al. Euro Surveill. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Italy is a low-incidence country for tuberculosis (TB). We describe a TB outbreak in a primary school in north-eastern Italy, involving 10 cases of active pulmonary disease and 42 cases of latent infection. The index case was detected in March 2019, while the primary case, an Italian-born schoolteacher, was likely infectious since January 2018. Administration of a pre-employment health questionnaire to school staff with sustained contact with children should be considered in low-incidence countries.

Keywords: Italy; children; contact investigation; health questionnaire; school outbreak; source-finding investigation; tuberculosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Timeline of the source finding and primary case contact investigations during a school tuberculosis outbreak, north-eastern Italy, 2019
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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