Combination of simple measures could help stop TB

A combination of simple preventative measures could help stop the spread of future outbreaks of TB, a new report has claimed.

The study, undertaken by a team from Yale University and published in the Lancet, looked at hospital-based outbreaks of the extensively drug resistant (XDR) strain of the disease in South Africa and suggested a number of straight-forward measures that it claims could half XDR TB cases by 2012.

Measures suggested by the report included a combination of medical staff wearing face masks, a reduction of the time patients spend in hospital and also treating as many patients as possible as outpatients.

The report said: "Supplementing this approach with improved ventilation, rapid drug resistance testing, HIV treatment, and tuberculosis isolation facilities could avert 48 per cent of XDR tuberculosis cases (range 34–50 per cent) by the end of 2012.

"However, involuntary detention could result in an unexpected rise in incidence due to restricted isolation capacity," it warned.

South Africa was ranked fifth in the top 22 high-burden countries for TB according to World Health Organization figures published in 2006, with nearly 340,000 new cases of the disease reported in 2004.

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