Tuberculosis in migrants from 106 countries to Italy, 2008–2014

Tackling TB in migrants arriving at Europe's southern border

Over a quarter of the individuals diagnosed with tuberculosis [TB] in the European Union region are born outside of the area and the proportion has been increasing steadily. Italy is a low TB incidence country with over 50% of TB cases in the foreign-born population primarily due to the high numbers of migrants entering the country via land or sea. As a case study to evaluate the value of screening in newly arrived migrants, the EDETECT-TB project in Italy implemented and evaluated active TB screening in the migrant population at first reception centres to ensure early diagnosis to avoid further spread. Based on a cost-effectiveness analysis from a program provider perspective, a decision tree model allowed the assessment of the value for money of case finding by estimating the cost per case of active TB detected compared with the status quo of no screening. The analysis confirmed that early case detection is a cost-effective intervention in areas with migrants arriving from high TB risk settings. Targeted post-arrival early screening of high TB risk vulnerable new entrants to Italy has a potential role in reducing the spread of TB among migrants.

Epidemiology and treatment outcome of MDR and pre-XDR TB in international migrants at two reference centers in the North of Italy: a cross-sectional study coordinated by Stop TB Italia Onlus

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated the epidemiology and treatment outcomes of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) and pre-extensively-resistant (pre-XDR) tuberculosis (TB) in migrants at two TB reference centers in Italy.

STUDY DESIGN

Patient selection criteria for the present study were as follows: age ≥18 years, international migrants (i.e., person who lives in a country other than his/her country of origin), MDR or pre-XDR-TB based on drug-susceptibility test findings, full availability of microbiological, radiological and clinical data. Non-intersecting populations between the two centers were selected. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a successful (i.e., cured and treatment completed) treatment outcome.

METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted, from 01/Jan/2000 to 01/Jan/2015, at the Regional TB Reference Centre of Lombardy Region, Villa Marelli Institute/ASST Niguarda Ca' Granda (Milan, Italy) and at the Reference Center for MDR-TB and HIV-TB, Eugenio Morelli Hospital ASST (Sondalo, Italy). All data were made anonymous. Qualitative and quantitative variables were collected in an ad hoc electronic database. The statistical software used for all computations was STATA version 15 (StataCorp, Texas, USA).

RESULTS

Overall, 116 MDR-TB and pre-XDR-TB cases were recorded: 82 (70.7%) MDR-TB and 34 (29.3%) pre-XDR-TB patients, respectively. The majority (53.5%) were from the World Health Organization European Region (excluding EU/EEA) and 75 (64.5%) were male. Median (interquartile range) age was 32 (26-39) years. TB/HIV coinfection was found in 12 (10.3%) patients. Pulmonary TB was diagnosed in 107/116 (92.2%) patients. Resistance to fluoroquinolones and second-line injectables was detected in 22/116 (19.0%) and 12/107 (11.2%) patients, respectively. Overall treatment success was reached in 95/116 (81.9%) cases.

CONCLUSION

Pre-XDR-TB in migrants coming from high-endemic countries represents a matter of concern; therefore, prevention and control activities targeted to high-risk populations are needed to progress toward TB elimination.

Use of Second-line Medications and Treatment Outcomes in Children With Tuberculosis in a Single Center From 2007 to 2018

BACKGROUND

The incidence of drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (DR-TB) and the number of children treated with second-line drugs (SLDs) are increasing. However, limited amount of information is available regarding the use of SLDs in this population.

METHODS

To describe the treatment of pediatric TB with SLDs and factors associated with use of SLDs in children with and without documented DR-TB, records of pediatric TB patients referred to a center in Italy from 2007 to 2018 were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Of 204 children diagnosed with active TB during the study period, 42 were treated with SLDs because of confirmed or probable drug resistance (42.8%), adverse reactions to first-line drugs (7.1%), central nervous system involvement (11.9%) or unconfirmed possible drug resistance (38.1%). There were no deaths or adverse reactions to SLDs reported. Treatment was successful in 85.2% children treated with first-line drugs and 92.9% children treated with SLDs. After adjusting for calendar period, the only factor associated with DR-TB was <2 years old [odds ratio (OR): 5.24 for <2 years vs. 5-18 years; P = 0.008]. Factors associated with treatment with SLDs were TB at 2 or more sites (OR: 11.30; P < 0.001), extrapulmonary TB (OR: 8.48; P < 0.001) or adverse reactions to first-line drugs (OR: 7.48; P = 0.002). No differences were noted in age or region of origin.

CONCLUSIONS

A substantial proportion of TB children were treated with SLDs. The main reason for using SLDs was failure of a first-line drug regimen, suggesting possible DR-TB and underestimation of DR-TB in children. The use of SLD regimens was associated with a high success rate and good tolerability profile.

Genetic Diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates in the Metropolitan Area of Rome

BACKGROUND

The presence in a geographic area of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains belonging to different phylogeographic lineages and showing different drug susceptibility patterns may suggest recent transmission, with implications in terms of patient clinical management and disease control. The aim of this study was to carry out a preliminary epidemiological investigation of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Rome.

METHODS

A total of 232 Mtb isolates, collected from new or previously treated patients, admitted between 2008 and 2014 at 2 hospital settings in Rome with a diagnosis of TB, were analyzed by spoligotyping and analyzing 24 variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit (MIRU) loci. The SITVIT2 database and the MIRU-VNTRplus web applications were used to identify the strain genotypes and to generate phylogenetic trees.

RESULTS

Based on the position on the phylogenetic tree, 97.4% of the strains were associated with 1 of the 7 main lineages. The Euro-American lineage was the most commonly represented (81.9%) within both Italian and foreign-born populations, although all main lineages were present. The highest frequency of drug-resistant strains was found among the East-Asian lineage (Beijing genotype) isolated from foreign-born patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Dynamics of TB transmission in Rome indicate recent spread of Mtb strains belonging to phylogeographic lineages and clades usually found in countries and geographic areas with a high incidence of TB, similarly to what is observed in most metropolitan areas in Western Europe. Knowledge from molecular and classical epidemiology provides an important tool for disease control.

Multidrug resistant tuberculosis in prisons located in former Soviet countries: A systematic review

Background

A systematic literature review was performed to investigate the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) in prisons located in countries formerly part of the Soviet Union.

Methods

A systematic search of published studies reporting MDR TB occurrence in prisons located in former Soviet countries was conducted by probing PubMed and Cumulative Index Nursing and Allied Health Literature for articles that met predetermined inclusion criteria.

Results

Seventeen studies were identified for systematic review. Studies were conducted in six different countries. Overall, prevalence of MDR TB among prisoners varied greatly between studies. Our findings suggest a high prevalence of MDR TB in prisons of Post-Soviet states with percentages as high as 16 times more than the worldwide prevalence estimated by the WHO in 2014.

Conclusion

All studies suggested a high prevalence of MDR TB in prison populations in Post-Soviet states.

Cost-effectiveness of bedaquiline in MDR and XDR tuberculosis in Italy

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of bedaquiline plus background drug regimens (BR) for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in Italy. Methods: A Markov model was adapted to the Italian setting to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of bedaquiline plus BR (BBR) versus BR in the treatment of MDR-TB and XDR-TB over 10 years, from both the National Health Service (NHS) and societal perspective. Cost-effectiveness was evaluated in terms of life-years gained (LYG). Clinical data were sourced from trials; resource consumption for compared treatments was modelled according to advice from an expert clinicians panel. NHS tariffs for inpatient and outpatient resource consumption were retrieved from published Italian sources. Drug costs were provided by reference centres for disease treatment in Italy. A 3% annual discount was applied to both cost and effectiveness. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results: Over 10 years, BBR vs. BR alone is cost-effective, with ICERs of €16,639/LYG and €4081/LYG for the NHS and society, respectively. The sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the results from both considered perspectives. Conclusion: In Italy, BBR vs. BR alone has proven to be cost-effective in the treatment of MDR-TB and XDR-TB under a range of scenarios.