Objective: To describe a programme of community education and mobilization to promote uptake in a cluster-randomized trial of tuberculosis preventive therapy offered to all members of intervention clusters.
Setting And Participants: Gold mines in South Africa, where tuberculosis incidence is extremely high, despite conventional control measures. All employees in intervention clusters (mine shaft and associated hostel) were invited to enrol.
Main Outcome Measure: Cumulative enrolment in the study in intervention clusters.
Results: Key steps in communicating information relevant to the study included extensive consultation with key stakeholders; working with a communication company to develop a project 'brand'; developing a communication strategy tailored to each intervention site; and involving actors from a popular television comedy series to help inform communities about the study. One-to-one communications used peer educators along with study staff, and participant advisory groups facilitated two-way communication between study staff and participants. By contrast, treatment 'buddies' and text messaging to promote adherence proved less successful. Mean cumulative enrolment in the first four intervention clusters was 61.9%, increasing to 83.0% in the final four clusters.
Conclusion: A tailored communication strategy can facilitate a high level of enrolment in a community health intervention.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.aids.0000391020.10661.eb | DOI Listing |
Trop Med Health
January 2025
LaoLuxLab/Vaccine Preventable Diseases Laboratory, Institut Pasteur du Laos, Vientiane, Laos.
Background: Individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) have a high risk of active infection, morbidity and mortality. Healthcare workers are a group who have increased risk of infection and onward transmission to their patients and other susceptible individuals; however, LTBI is often undiagnosed, and individuals are asymptomatic. Interferon gamma release assays (IGRA) can detect evidence of TB infection in otherwise asymptomatic individuals and are a good indication of LTBI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiol Res
December 2024
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Regional Immunity and Diseases, Department of Pathogen Biology, Shenzhen University School of Medicine, Shenzhen 518000, China. Electronic address:
This review addresses the significant advancements in the identification of blood-based prognostic biomarkers for tuberculosis (TB), highlighting the importance of early detection to prevent disease progression. The manuscript discusses various biomarker categories, including transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, immune cell-based, cytokine-based, and antibody response-based markers, emphasizing their potential in predicting TB incidence. Despite promising results, practical application is hindered by high costs, technical complexities, and the need for extensive validation across diverse populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pediatric Infect Dis Soc
January 2025
Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
Introduction: Identifying tuberculosis infection (TBI) using interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) is a primary component of clinical and public health efforts to prevent pediatric tuberculosis. Pediatric data comparing the two IGRAs in the United States are very limited. We compared the performance of the two IGRAs among a large pediatric cohort tested for TBI and assessed whether discordance might be due to quantitative results close to test cut-off values.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Ethnopharmacol
December 2024
Department of Preparation Center, Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Chongqing, 400021, China.
Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an important and common adverse drug event. Rhododendron molle Flos (RMF), as one of toxic Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), holds a prominent position in clinical practice for treating rheumatoid arthritis. However, the toxicity of RMF limits its safe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
January 2025
Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Background: Data on tuberculosis (TB) incidence and risk factors among children living with HIV (CLHIV) in the universal ART era are limited.
Methods: We analysed routinely-collected data on TB diagnoses for CLHIV age ≤5 years, born 2018-2022, in the Westen Cape, South Africa. We examined factors associated with TB diagnosis, with death and loss to follow-up as competing events.
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