Los Angeles County
Department of Public Health Tuberculosis Control Program
2615 S. Grand Avenue, Room 507
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Phone: (213) 744-6160
Fax: (213) 749-0926
Email: tb@ph.lacounty.gov
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IN THE NEWS
New School TB Screening Policy
Effective July 1, 2012, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH)
is rescinding the universal TB testing requirement for children entering kindergarten
or a California school for the first time. Instead, universal TB screening and risk-based
testing will be incorporated into the existing CA State physical examination requirement for
children entering first grade. Health providers, as part of this routine health assessment,
will screen students and test them for TB only if a risk factor is present.
Upcoming Events
World TB Day (WTBD) is March 24 and is acknowledged globally.
For further information on WTBD events occurring nationally, go to
www.cdc.gov/tb/events/WorldTBDay.
This screening policy had been updated in order to promote evidence-based best practice, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). False positive children will no longer have to endure lengthy preventive treatment regimens that may be harmful to their livers. This new policy prevents redundancy by folding a universal TB screening and targeted testing protocol into an existing framework, the first grade school entry physical examination. It also promotes comprehensive care by focusing on placing children in medical homes. Finally, this new policy enables a shift in focus on interventions better suited to finding TB cases, such as contact investigations, as well as on populations at higher risk for TB, such as the homeless and HIV positive.
Please note that this policy change will not affect pre-school children, teachers, or volunteers.
CDC Issues Recommendations on Use of
New Treatment Option for Latent TB Infection
Health care providers in the United States have a new way to treat latent tuberculosis infection, according to recommendations
recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new recommendations, published recently in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, provide guidance on how to administer a new 12-dose regimen for TB preventive therapy that will significantly shorten the course of treatment from about nine months to 12 weeks. The 12- dose regimen should be administered under DOT to ensure the completion of all doses. The recommendations are based on the results of three clinical trials, as well as expert opinion.
