19.12.2024

Global migration has increased in recent decades due to war, conflict, persecutions, and natural disasters, but also secondary to increased opportunities related to work or study. Tuberculosis is a preventable and treatable infectious disease and the leading cause of death in infections worldwide.

A group of international experts that collaborate in the Tuberculosis Network European Trialsgroup (TBnet; www.tbnet.eu) has now identified the risk for tuberculosis and comorbidities in migrants to the European Union/European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (EU/EEA&UK).

They found a higher vulnerability of migrants for tuberculosis, including an increased risk of extrapulmonary disease, antimicrobial drug resistance of tuberculosis bacilli, HIV co-infection and worse treatment outcomes when compared to host populations.

The experts developed consensus recommendations for the management of tuberculosis prevention, screening and care in migrants to the EU/EEA&UK.

They agree that migrants do not “import” tuberculosis on large scale into EU/EEA&UK and that better measures must be taken for their protection from this disease and to improve tuberculosis outcomes in migrants.

“This work highlights determinants of tuberculosis in adult migrant populations and calls attention to strategies needed to reduce the burden of tuberculosis in this vulnerable population”, says Dr. Christian Morberg Wejse, Professor in Global Health at Aarhus University and member of European Center of Disease Control (ECDC) working group on tuberculosis in migrants.

“Early case finding and prevention of tuberculosis in migrants and not stigmatization are key to eliminate tuberculosis in low incidence countries“, adds Professor Christoph Lange, Medical Director at Borstel and Professor for Respiratory Medicine & International Health at the University of Lübeck, Germany.

Wejse and Lange are both senior authors of the TBnet consensus statement which is published in the European Respiratory Journal.

Kunst H, Lange B, Hovardovska O, Bockey A, Zenner D, Andersen AB, Hargreaves S, Pareek M, Friedland JS, Wejse C, Bothamley G, Guglielmetti L, Chesov D, Tiberi S, Matteelli A, Mandalakas AM, Heyckendorf J, Eimer J, Malhotra A, Zamora J, Vasiliu A, Lange C for the TBnet. Tuberculosis in adult migrants in Europe: a TBnet consensus statement. Eur Respir J 2024 (in press) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39672603/