Population-based contact investigation of a cluster of tuberculosis cases in a small village.

A cluster of five cases of tuberculosis (TB) in persons aged 19-23 years who were not close contacts was detected in a small village in Spain in 2006. All culture isolates had the same chromosomal-DNA restriction pattern. Contact investigations of family members, friends, workmates and schoolmates were complemented with tuberculin screening offered to the resident population born between 1976 and 1995. Expanded contact tracing detected two new cases of TB, 27 tuberculin conversions and an excess of latent tuberculosis infections (LTI) in persons born between 1978 and 1990. The contacts of two cases had a significantly elevated prevalence of LTI. Two secondary cases of TB, 33.3% of those diagnosed with LTI and 47.8% of the converters were unaware of any contact with the TB cases, but had frequented some of the same bars. This study suggests that a considerable percentage of the episodes of TB transmission in young people may escape detection in conventional contact studies.