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The diagnosis can be difficult to make because of the varied presentation, the low percentage with positive microscopy for acid-fast bacilli and the time delay of up to several weeks for a positive TB culture. The thresholds for laparoscopy and/or laparotomy for the diagnosis were therefore very low. The diagnosis could be made rapidly by these methods, and early treatment instituted. Six months short-course chemotherapy is very effective in ATB. This should be changed, if appropriate, on the basis of drug susceptibility data.

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Prophylaxis of tuberculosis in children with four month (n = 53) and three month regimens (n = 213) of rifampicin and isoniazid from 1987 to 1996 were tolerated without any toxicity. The reduction in the proportion of paediatric tuberculosis, which was seen after the introduction of chemoprophylaxis with longer regimens in 1981, was maintained with the shorter duration regimens. Altered immigration patterns and a fall in the proportion of infectious tuberculosis, as defined by sputum culture positivity, have been excluded as factors in the reduced paediatric proportion of tuberculosis. The data show such regimens have little toxicity and provide indirect evidence that three months chemoprophylaxis may be as eVective as longer regimens. (Arch Dis Child 1998;78:169-171)

Data collected prospectively on all 1065 cases of tuberculosis occurring in the Blackburn district, U.K. (population 265,000), over a 15-year period have been analysed, and from these 47 cases of cutaneous tuberculosis have been identified. The most common form was scrofuloderma, skin involvement with adjacent structural disease, of which there were 26 cases (55.3%). There was no ethnic bias in this group. The eight white patients with scrofuloderma were of average age 66 years, and are thought to represent reactivation disease. Six patients (12.8%) had lupus vulgaris, four (8.5%) had metastatic tuberculosis and 10 (21.3%) were diagnosed as having one of the tuberculides, of which Bazin's disease (erythema induratum) was the most common. In addition, one patient (2.2%) had orificial tuberculosis. In contrast to scrofuloderma, all other forms of cutaneous tuberculosis occurred almost exclusively in patients from the Indian Subcontinent (ISC). The high incidence of tuberculosis in Blackburn is mainly linked to its significant proportion of residents of ISC ethnic origin. There were no cases of HIV infection coexisting with either cutaneous or other forms of tuberculosis. Recommendations for the treatment of cutaneous tuberculosis are made.

Approximately 72% of tuberculosis (TB) cases in England occur among non-UK born individuals, mostly as a result of reactivation of latent TB infection (LTBI). Programmatic LTBI screening is a key intervention of the TB strategy for England. This article reviews the results of a long-standing LTBI screening initiative in England.A retrospective cohort was created through probabilistic linkage between LTBI screening data and national TB case notifications. Screened persons were followed until they died, became a case, emigrated or until cohort-end. TB incidence rates and rate ratios (IRR) were calculated.97 out of 1820 individuals screened for LTBI were reported to have active TB. Crude incidence rates among LTBI-positive, treatment-naïve individuals were 4.1 and 2.3 per 100 person-years in the QuantiFERON and tuberculin skin test cohorts, respectively. Among the QuantiFERON cohort, Poisson regression showed that LTBI positivity (IRR 22.6, 95% CI 6.8–74.6) and no chemoprophylaxis increased the probability of becoming a TB case (IRR 0.17, 95% CI 0.05–0.6).We found high TB rates in LTBI-positive, treatment-naïve individuals and a strong association between no treatment and becoming a TB case, demonstrating feasibility and effectiveness of LTBI screening and providing important policy lessons for LTBI screening in England and beyond.

Data collected prospectively on all 1065 cases of tuberculosis occurring in the Blackburn district, U.K. (population 265,000), over a 15-year period have been analysed, and from these 47 cases of cutaneous tuberculosis have been identified. The most common form was scrofuloderma, skin involvement with adjacent structural disease, of which there were 26 cases (55.3%). There was no ethnic bias in this group. The eight white patients with scrofuloderma were of average age 66 years, and are thought to represent reactivation disease. Six patients (12.8%) had lupus vulgaris, four (8.5%) had metastatic tuberculosis and 10 (21.3%) were diagnosed as having one of the tuberculides, of which Bazin's disease (erythema induratum) was the most common. In addition, one patient (2.2%) had orificial tuberculosis. In contrast to scrofuloderma, all other forms of cutaneous tuberculosis occurred almost exclusively in patients from the Indian Subcontinent (ISC). The high incidence of tuberculosis in Blackburn is mainly linked to its significant proportion of residents of ISC ethnic origin. There were no cases of HIV infection coexisting with either cutaneous or other forms of tuberculosis. Recommendations for the treatment of cutaneous tuberculosis are made.