Active case finding for tuberculosis among people who inject drugs on methadone treatment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

SETTING

Active case finding is a World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed strategy for improving tuberculosis (TB) case detection. Despite WHO recommendations for active case finding among people who inject drugs (PWID), few studies have been published. The historical focus of case finding has been in populations that are human immunodeficiency virus-positive, incarcerated or at higher occupational risk.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to examine the yield of active case finding among PWID newly started on methadone in Tanzania.

DESIGN

Of 222 methadone clients, 156 (70%) met with study administrators; 150 consented to participate, 139 (93%) of whom were male. The median age was 34 years. A symptom-based questionnaire was developed by the investigators and administered to every consenting patient by a native Swahili speaker.

RESULTS

Of the 150 patients surveyed, 16 (11%) had one or more TB symptoms and were referred for laboratory testing. Six new TB cases were identified in this active case finding program, with a prevalence of 4%.

CONCLUSION

This study presents the first data on TB prevalence in a population of PWID in Tanzania. This prevalence is 23 times that of the general Tanzanian TB prevalence of 0.2%. These results have significant implications for TB control.