The Challenges of Tuberculosis Management beyond Professional Competence: Insights from Tuberculosis Outbreaks among Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel

Hashem Bishara, Daniel Weiler-Ravell, Amer Saffouri, Manfred Green

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Controlling tuberculosis (TB) among immigrants from high-incidence countries presents a public health concern as well as a medical challenge. In this article, we investigate a TB outbreak in a community of people of Jewish descent who emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel (Israeli Ethiopians) that started in June 2022. The index case was a 20-year-old female who had recently immigrated to Israel with her family. Her pre-immigration tuberculin skin test was positive. After excluding active TB, treatment with daily isoniazid for latent TB (LTB) was started shortly after her arrival. A year later, she was diagnosed with smear-positive, culture-positive, pulmonary TB. Investigation of 83 contacts revealed five additional patients with active TB, and three of whom were members were of her household. In this article, we report the current TB outbreak, review previously published TB outbreaks involving Israeli Ethiopians, analyze the factors that triggered each of these outbreaks, and discuss the challenges that face the Israeli TB control program in an era of declining TB incidence and diminishing resources available for TB control.

Original languageEnglish
Article number29
JournalTropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.

Keywords

  • Ethiopian immigrants
  • Israel
  • latent tuberculosis
  • preventive therapy
  • reception centers
  • tuberculosis elimination
  • tuberculosis outbreak

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Immunology and Microbiology
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Infectious Diseases

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