Domestic impact of tuberculosis screening among new immigrants to Ontario, Canada

Abstract

See also www.cmaj.ca/lookup

Demographic predictors of active tuberculosis in people migrating to British Columbia, Canada: a retrospective cohort study

“…Our finding that refugee and live-in caregiver classes had some of the highest TB rates among people migrating to BC complements previous Canadian findings. 3 Our study further adds to this recent cohort study reporting 2-year TB incidence among people migrating to Ontario 3 by including a longer follow-up time to assess TB incidence rates across years since immigration, by using MSP records to estimate time spent in province, by including a more detailed breakdown of immigration classes and by using recursive partitioning methods to determine the groups at highest risk of TB after immigration.…”

“…Live-in caregivers are a specific skilled-worker stream that has been reported to have significantly higher TB incidence in Canada compared with other immigration classes. 3 All economic class applicants are able to sponsor themselves and their dependents within these immigration streams.…”

“…2 However, a recent study found that less than 3% of active cases of TB in people migrating to Canada were detected by postimmigration surveillance. 3 Currently, no routine pre-or postimmigration screening and treatment programs for latent TB infection (LTBI) for people migrating to Canada are available. 2 Scale-up of LTBI screening and treatment in high-risk populations postimmigration is a component strategy for achieving World Health Organization (WHO) targets for TB elimination in Canada.…”

Principaux conseils cliniques en matière de soins primaires pour participer à l’élimination de la tuberculose au Canada

“…La surveillance post-immigration des immigrants sélectionnés et considérés comme présentant un risque élevé de développer une tuberculose active dépend également de certains facteurs de risque identifiés lors de l'examen médical réglementaire (7). L'objectif de l'examen médical réglementaire est de s'assurer que les migrants atteints de tuberculose active sont diagnostiqués et traités, et qu'ils ne sont plus contagieux avant leur arrivée au Canada.…”

“…Chaque année, environ 250 000 immigrants et réfugiés s'installent au Canada (7,8). Dans le cadre de l'examen médical réglementaire effectué sur les personnes déposant une demande de résidence permanente, et de certaines catégories de résidence temporaire, les personnes âgées de 11 ans et plus devraient passer une radiographie des poumons dans leur pays d'origine (8,9).…”