The World Health Organization has released a Rapid Communication, previewing the new 2021 Tuberculosis Screening Guidelines that will be released next year (link). MLW and College of Medicine researchers led three separate systematic reviews to inform these important new guidelines.

A team led by Peter MacPherson, and including Rachael Burke, Helena Feasey, and Marriott Nliwasa, analysed nearly one thousand TB screening studies in full text that were conducted between 1980 and 2020, and which comprised at least 110 million person-years of follow-up. The main findings were that active case finding for tuberculosis if delivered with enough intensity and using high sensitivity screening strategies including modern diagnostics can positively impact the community epidemiology of tuberculosis.

Based on this evidence, in the forthcoming TB Screening Guidelines, WHO makes bold recommendations for expanded community screening for TB in high prevalence settings. We hope that these strategies will continue to accelerate reductions in mortality from the world’s leading infectious killer.

Congratulations, Peter MacPherson and team, for the good work.