A Neighbor-Based Approach to Identify Tuberculosis Exposure, the Kopanyo Study

Abstract

Contact investigation is one public health measure used to prevent tuberculosis by identifying and treating persons exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Contact investigations are a major tenet of global tuberculosis elimination efforts, but for many reasons remain ineffective. We describe a novel neighbor-based approach to reframe contact investigations.

Keywords: Botswana; GIS; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; TB; bacteria; contact investigation; contact tracing; geographic information systems; mapping; nearest neighbor; neighborhoods; prevention; respiratory diseases; transmission; tuberculosis; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

Figure

Illustration of possible nearest neighbors and next-nearest neighbors for tuberculosis (TB) screening and possible TB preventive treatment. Black box represents the home of a TB index patient; dark-gray boxes represent the nearest-neighbor homes; light-gray boxes represent the next-nearest neighbor homes. This figure does not reflect the true number of neighbor homes, and index patients might have >4 next-door neighbors, depending on the geographic orientation of residential plots.