Tuberculosis Beijing strain outbreak in an Israeli Arab rural community linked to an incarcerated immigrant

Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2014 Dec;18(12):1502-4. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.14.0429.

Abstract

A tuberculosis (TB) outbreak with six definite and four probable cases, caused by a Beijing strain isolate, occurred in an Arab rural community in north Israel. Using epidemiological investigation and strain genotyping, we identified the source case as an incarcerated immigrant. This outbreak illustrates how a systematic breakdown in TB prevention and control measures at multiple levels, within prisons and upon exiting prison, can result in rapid, cross-ethnic transmission of TB to a low-risk population. The close social bonds in this rural community and downsizing of the regional TB clinic staff may also have contributed to the magnitude of this outbreak.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Antitubercular Agents / therapeutic use
  • Arabs*
  • Bacteriological Techniques
  • Child, Preschool
  • Contact Tracing
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Emigrants and Immigrants*
  • Family
  • Female
  • Friends
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Israel / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / genetics*
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / pathogenicity
  • Prisoners*
  • Rural Health*
  • Social Behavior
  • Tuberculosis / diagnosis
  • Tuberculosis / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis / ethnology
  • Tuberculosis / microbiology
  • Tuberculosis / transmission*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents