Australia, like other high-income countries with a low TB incidence, faces special challenges in controlling TB
Books with optimistic titles such as Triumph over tuberculosis, The retreat of tuberculosis and The miracle of empty beds were published in the 1970s and 1980s. Readers of the Journal may therefore be surprised to find six articles on tuberculosis (TB) in this one issue in 2008.1-6 Far from having dis-appeared, TB is the dis-ease that still affects the dis-placed, the dis-advantaged, the dis-possessed, the dis-rupted and those with dis-abled immune systems.
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- 1. Dobler CC, Marks GB, Simpson SE, Crawford ABH. Recurrence of tuberculosis at a Sydney chest clinic between 1994 and 2006: reactivation or reinfection? Med J Aust 2008; 188: 153-155.
- 2. Emerson CR, Post JJ. To routinely offer testing for HIV infection in all cases of tuberculosis: a rational clinical approach? Med J Aust 2008; 188: 162-163.
- 3. Gilpin CM, Simpson G, Vincent S, et al. Evidence of primary transmission of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 148-152.
- 4. Gray NJ, Hansen-Knarhoi M, Krause VL. Tuberculosis in illegal foreign fishermen: whose public health are we protecting? Med J Aust 2008; 188: 144-147.
- 5. Robinson PD, Dalton D, Cripps T, et al. Tuberculosis in children: a tertiary centre perspective [letter]. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 190-191.
- 6. Gupta A, Street AC, Macrae FA. Tumour necrosis factor a inhibitors: screening for tuberculosis infection in inflammatory bowel disease. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 168-170.
- 7. Roche P, Krause V, Konstantinos A, et al. Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2006. Commun Dis Intell. In press.
- 8. Horsburgh CR Jr. Priorities for the treatment of latent tuberculosis infection in the United States. N Engl J Med 2004; 350: 2060-2067.
- 9. National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee. Position statement on interferon-γ release immunoassays in the detection of latent tuberculosis infection. October 2007. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/cdna-ntac-interferon.htm (accessed Dec 2007).
- 10. Canadian Tuberculosis Committee. Interferon gamma release assays for latent tuberculosis infection. Can Commun Dis Rep 2007; 33 (1 Nov): 1-18. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/ccdr-rmtc/07pdf/acs33-10.pdf (accessed Dec 2007).
- 11. Weiss RA, McMichael AJ. Social and environmental risk factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Nat Med 2004; 10 (12 Suppl): S70-S76.
- 12. Rudd K. Fresh ideas for future challenges: a new approach to Australia’s arc of instability. Speech to the Lowy Institute, 5 July 2007. http://www.alp.org.au/media/0707/speloo050.php (accessed Dec 2007).
- 13. Gilpin CM. Migration and tuberculosis: evaluation of current tuberculosis control strategies among migrants and emerging issues for Queensland [Master of Public Health dissertation]. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology, 2007.
- 14. MacPherson DW, Gushulak BD. Balancing prevention and screening among international migrants with tuberculosis: population mobility as the major epidemiological influence in low-incidence nations. Public Health 2006; 120: 712-723.
- 15. Broekmans JF, Migliori GB, Rieder HL, et al. European framework for tuberculosis control and elimination in countries with a low incidence. Recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) and Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Association (KNCV) Working Group. Eur Respir J 2002; 19: 765-775.
- 16. Frieden TR, Fujiwara PI, Washko RM, Hamburg MA. Tuberculosis in New York City — turning the tide. N Engl J Med 1995; 333: 229-233.
- 17. Schwartzman K, Oxlade O, Barr RG, et al. Domestic returns from investment in the control of tuberculosis in other countries. N Engl J Med 2005; 353: 1008-1020.
Ivan Bastian attended a tuberculosis meeting in Palm Cove, Queensland, in July 2000, which was partly sponsored by CSL, the then manufacturer of the QuantiFERON assay mentioned here. Cellestis is now the manufacturer of this assay.