Infectivity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Genotypes and Outcome of Contact Investigation in Classroom in Guangxi, China

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection in School Contacts of Tuberculosis Cases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Substantial tuberculosis transmission occurs outside of households, and tuberculosis surveillance in schools has recently been proposed. However, the yield of tuberculosis outcomes from school contacts is not well characterized. We assessed the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among close school contacts by performing a systematic review. We searched PubMed, Elsevier, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases. Studies reporting the number of children who were tested overall and who tested positive were included. Subgroup analyses were performed by study location, index case bacteriological status, type of school, and other relevant factors. In total, 28 studies including 54,707 school contacts screened for M. tuberculosis infection were eligible and included in the analysis. Overall, the prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection determined by the QuantiFERON Gold in-tube test was 33.2% (95% CI, 0.0-73.0%). The prevalences of M. tuberculosis infection based on the tuberculin skin test (TST) using 5 mm, 10 mm, and 15 mm as cutoffs were 27.2% (95% CI, 15.1-39.3%), 24.3% (95% CI, 15.3-33.4%), and 12.7% (95% CI, 6.3-19.0%), respectively. The pooled prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection (using a TST ≥5-mm cutoff) was lower in studies from China (22.8%; 95% CI, 16.8-28.8%) than other regions (36.7%; 95% CI, 18.1-55.2%). The pooled prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection was higher when the index was bacteriologically positive (43.6% [95% CI, 16.5-70.8%] versus 23.8% [95% CI, 16.2-31.4%]). These results suggest that contact investigation and general surveillance in schools from high-burden settings merit consideration as means to improve early case detection in children.

Epidemiology of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in central Guangxi from 2016 to 2021

The burden of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) has gradually increased in recent years, but not enough epidemiological data is available from central Guangxi. To better understand the epidemiology of EPTB in central Guangxi and identify risk factors associated with them, we retrospectively investigated the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB), especially EPTB, among patients admitted to the Chest Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region between 2016 and 2021. We excluded those infected with both pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and EPTB, reported the proportion and incidence of PTB or EPTB, and compared the demographic characteristics and risk factors of EPTB and PTB cases using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Among 30,893 TB patients, 67.25% (20,774) had PTB and 32.75% (10,119) had EPTB. Among EPTB, pleural, skeletal, lymphatic, pericardial, meningeal, genitourinary, intestinal, and peritoneal TB accounted for 49.44%, 27.20%, 8.55%, 4.39%, 3.36%, 1.48%, 0.87%, and 0.79%, respectively. Patients who were younger (age < 25), from rural areas, Zhuang and other ethnic groups, and diagnosed with anemia and HIV infection were more likely to develop EPTB. However, patients with diabetes and COPD were less likely to have EPTB. From 2016 to 2021, the proportion of PTB cases decreased from 69.73 to 64.07%. The percentage of EPTB cases increased from 30.27 to 35.93%, with the largest increase in skeletal TB from 21.48 to 34.13%. The epidemiology and risk factors of EPTB in central Guangxi are different from those of PTB. The incidence of EPTB is increasing and further studies are needed to determine the reasons for it.

How to Optimize Tuberculosis Health Education in College Under the New Situation? Based on a Cross-Sectional Study Among Freshmen of a Medical College in Guangxi, China

Background

China is a country with a high burden of tuberculosis (TB), and students are the high-risk group for TB. The enrollment scale of colleges has increased dramatically due to the advancement of the enrollment expansion system of Chinese colleges. Consequently, this has brought severe challenges to TB prevention and control in colleges. In 2017, a new TB control guide for schools was issued in China, which included the 8 core knowledge of TB. The target of the overall awareness rate on TB among population was “≥85%,” which was proposed by the “13th Five-Year” National TB Control Plan in China. The cognition of the 8 core knowledge of TB in the new guide among college students is crucial to achieve this target, but few studies on this have been reported. Based on the abovementioned new situation and the new guide, this study aimed to investigate and analyze the cognition, attitudes, and health education needs on TB among freshmen of a medical college in Guangxi province, and discuss how to optimize TB health education in colleges in China.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among freshmen of a medical college in Guangxi, China. A self-designed questionnaire was used to conduct an on-site questionnaire survey. The data was entered in Epidata 4.4.2.1 and was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Including descriptive statistics and t-test, and the criterion for statistically significant difference was p &lt; 0.05.

Results

A total of 583 freshmen responded to the survey questionnaires. Regarding cognition about the 5 related knowledge of TB, 551 (94.5%) freshmen knew about the predilection site of TB, while 333 (57.1%), 328 (56.4%), 257 (44.1%), and 201 (34.5%) freshmen knew about the pathogen, the policies about free treatment, the designated hospitals, and the World TB Day, respectively. Regarding cognition on the 8 core knowledge of TB, the overall awareness rate among the freshmen is 73.3%(3,420/4,664); the awareness rate of the knowledge that “guarantee adequate sleep, reasonable diet, and strengthen physical exercise can reduce the incidence of TB” among them was the highest at 88.7% (517/583); and the awareness rate of the knowledge that “coughing or sputum expectoration occurred for more than 2 weeks should be suspected of infecting TB and seeking medical treatment in time” among them was the lowest at 47.5% (277/583). Whether students received health education on TB (T = 4.267, p = 0.000) and whether students heard of TB (T = 3.739, p = 0.000) are the main factors of cognition. Five hundred sixty-two (96.4%) and 565 (96.9%) freshmen were willing to learn and tell others about the knowledge of TB, respectively. Three hundred seventy (63.5%.) freshmen, the highest amount, were willing to accept TB health education in the forms of “website, Weibo, and WeChat.”

Conclusion

The cognition on the 5 related knowledge of TB among freshmen is unbalanced, and the overall awareness rate of the 8 core knowledge of TB among freshmen still needs to be improved. Freshmen who have not heard of TB and have not received TB health education before enrollment are the key intervention groups. It is recommended that institutions make full use of modern multimedia technology, continuously optimize the health education forms, implement precise policies, and strengthen the theoretical and practical health education on TB from the initial entry of freshmen into colleges.

Transmission of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Wuhan, China: A retrospective molecular epidemiological study

How multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) spreads and expands in Wuhan population is not clear. The study aimed to determine the transmission patterns of MDR-TB in Wuhan city, China, including 149 patients with MDR-TB.Tuberculosis isolates were genotyped by deletion-targeted multiplex polymerase chain reaction, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat typing, and sequencing of drug resistance-associated genes. The risk factors of genomic-clustering were analyzed with logistic regression. The genomic-clustering patients were deeply investigated.The analysis identified 111 unique and 11 clustered genotypes (38 isolates). The clustering rate was 25.50% and the minimum estimate proportion of recent transmission was 18.12%. Two clusters (5 isolates) shared the same mutation, the remain 9 clusters (33 isolates) had different mutation. Logistic regression showed that older than 60 years (adjusted OR 2.360, 95% CI:1.052-5.292) was an independent factor associated with the genomic-clustering of MDR-TB. Among the 38 genomic-clustering cases, 14 cases had epidemiological transmission links. The most common type of transmission link was social contact.The local transmission of MDR-TB in Wuhan was really an issue. The elderly population might be the high-risk groups for transmission of MDR-TB, and the community or public transportation might be the main transmission places.