Challenges of tuberculosis management in high and low prevalence countries in a mobile world
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Volume
23
Pagination
106 - 111
Publisher
DOI
10.4104/pcrj.2014.00019
Journal
PRIMARY CARE RESPIRATORY JOURNAL
Issue
ISSN
1471-4418
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In this issue of the PCRJ, Bishara et al.
1 present a case report about
the treatment of a pregnant woman with tuberculosis (TB). She had
emigrated from a country with a high prevalence of TB to one with
a lower prevalence. This presented a challenge to her physicians who
were faced with identifying and treating close contacts who were
also infected. This Perspective article explores in more depth some of
the questions raised by this case report. It discusses the role of
primary care physicians in low prevalence countries who can
implement evidence-based screening programmes, it discusses
effective strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of TB in countries
with high TB prevalence, and it presents insights from medical
anthropology that can help practitioners overcome the barriers to TB
diagnosis, treatment and screening described in the case report.