Tuberculosis screening for prospective migrants to high-income countries: systematic review of policies

Increased mortality in survivors of Ebola virus disease

“…In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Mory Keita and colleagues 3 report mortality in survivors of Ebola virus disease in Guinea, who were followed up for a mean of 21•2 months after discharge from Ebola treatment units. Within a year of discharge, mortality in survivors of Ebola virus diseases was five times higher than that in the aged-matched general population (age-standardised mortality ratio 5•2 [95% CI 4•0-6•8]).…”

“…The authors noted that survivors with longer stays in Ebola treatment units during acute infection had an increased risk of mortality during the year after discharge compared with those with shorter stays, suggesting that initial disease severity could be associated with late mortality. 3 Further investigations are needed to understand the role of severe damage to major organs (eg, kidneys, liver, lungs) that occurs during the acute phase of disease in patients who survive Ebola virus disease.…”

“…The low frequency of late deaths (2•6-5•2%) in survivors of Ebola virus disease suggests that large cohorts will be needed to detect any substantial reductions in the life expectancy of survivors of viral haemorrhagic fevers. 2,3 Additionally, robust, segregated data for life expectancies within affected countries and regions that account for discrepancies between urban and rural populations are needed to identify variations in mortality.…”

“…Group A streptococcus is classified into more than 200 emm types. 3 Since the mid-1980s, a hypervirulent serotype emm1 group A streptococcus clone has been frequently isolated from severe forms of invasive group A streptococcal disease. 4 The ongoing outbreak of scarlet fever in the UK, first reported in 2014, is polyclonal in nature and not caused by a single epidemic strain of group A streptococcus.…”

Cost-effectiveness of targeted screening for active pulmonary tuberculosis among asylum-seekers: A modelling study with screening data from a German federal state (2002-2015)

“…Due to increased migration flows, the number of foreign-born tuberculosis patients has come to outnumber native-born cases in many low-incidence countries, causing renewed interest in screening programmes for asylum-seekers and refugees. These screening programmes exist in many countries with high-income and high net-migration flows [5], but they vary widely in many aspects: stage of disease (active/latent disease), the group of migrants included (all migrants/long-term migrants/asylum-seekers/only from selected high-endemic countries), the timing of the screening (pre/upon/post-arrival), the legal character (compulsory/voluntary), and the follow-up to or the consequence of the screening result (entrance only permitted after successful therapy/surveillance/no follow up) [6,7].…”