Tuberculosis in Schools and Requirements for Prevention and Control in China

Factors associated with diagnostic delay of pulmonary tuberculosis among children and adolescents in Quzhou, China: results from the surveillance data 2011–2021

“…Although the incidence rate of tuberculosis among students is lower (13.64 cases per 100,000/year in 2021 [ 7 ]) than the general population(55 cases per 100,000/year in 2021 [ 1 ]), students live in dense settings that are prone to tuberculosis outbreaks and public health emergencies. In addition, if students with PTB are not promptly diagnosed and treated, the widespread transmission of M. tuberculosis can occur because schools provide several avenues for tuberculosis transmission [ 8 ]. In 2020, the Chinese government issued guidelines for the prevention and control of tuberculosis in schools in China [ 9 ], which requires that a network of school tuberculosis prevention and control work, consisting of administrative departments such as health and education works together to do a good job of preventing and controlling tuberculosis in schools.…”

“…In addition, if students with PTB are not promptly diagnosed and treated, the widespread transmission of M. tuberculosis can occur because schools provide several avenues for tuberculosis transmission [ 8 ]. In 2020, the Chinese government issued guidelines for the prevention and control of tuberculosis in schools in China [ 9 ], which requires that a network of school tuberculosis prevention and control work, consisting of administrative departments such as health and education works together to do a good job of preventing and controlling tuberculosis in schools. In the same year, Quzhou began to implement a zero-burden treatment cost pilot program for ordinary tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis, and was the first prefecture-level city in the country to introduce a policy of fully subsidizing the costs of diagnosis and treatment of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis and ordinary tuberculosis.…”

Epidemiological characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis among students in Guizhou, China: a retrospective study from 2010 to 2020

“…However, the peak in 2020 appeared in June, because the epidemic of COVID-2019 in early 2020, Guizhou was in the state of stopping production and school from February 2020 to April 2020, and no medical or diagnostic services related to tuberculosis were carried out during this period, which began to recover gradually in May, so June was the peak in 2020 5 31. The incidence of PTB among students in Guizhou showed an upward trend from 2010 to 2020, the main reason was Guizhou gradually increased the detection of PTB among students since 2015, China and Guizhou have formulated and implemented the norms and guidelines on PTB prevention and control in schools, which were targeted at all types of schools (including primary, middle, high schools, universities and various vocational schools), Guizhou has implemented physical examination for freshmen entrance and health examination to discover PTB cases 32 33. Therefore, the number and incidence of PTB among students in Guizhou have increased significantly since 2015, and this result also suggested that there may be many undiscovered PTB cases among students in Guizhou.…”

“…Existing studies have shown that active screening can discover a large number of PTB cases in areas with a high incidence of PTB 40 41. In addition, Guizhou requires schools to carry out screening of close contacts immediately after the occurrence of PTB cases in the class, including those who are in the same class and dormitory with the cases, and gradually expand the scope of screening in the whole school until no new PTB cases are discovered 42 43. However, our research results showed that although the proportion of active screening has increased, it accounts for only 0.76%, the reason was that although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has increased the attention and effort to active screening of school students, there was still insufficient funding, and the enthusiasm and cooperation of education departments for an active screening of PTB in schools was not enough, and the active screening of PTB in students was not free, so some teachers and parents were not willing to participate in the work, which led to the slow progress of active screening.…”

Implementing a continuous quality-improvement framework for tuberculosis infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities in China, 2017–2019

“…The assessment tool package has been incorporated into the monitoring and evaluation section of China's updated national TB IPCC guidelines published in November 2023. 17 By reinforcing IPC measures that help prevent respiratory disease transmission, drawing awareness to the importance of IPC, and developing transferrable IPC skills, the project inadvertently prepared healthcare facilities to better manage COVID-19. Chongqing Public Health Medical Center, a pilot participant in TB BASICS, was designated for treatment of COVID-19 patients in January 2020.…”