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Prompt deployment effectively contained 2013 school TB outbreak
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A recent report published in MMWR highlights the effectiveness of rapid incident command system deployment at suppressing the spread of tuberculosis in a high school population.
“The use of [the incident command system (ICS)] can mobilize resources among health departments and their branches in a substantially shorter time frame,” researcher Cameron Kaiser, MD, health officer for Riverside County, California, and colleagues wrote. “The clearly defined command structure of ICS has been proven to aid resource and information flow and to provide for public communication and coordination with other local agencies.”
Cameron Kaiser
In November 2013, a California high school student, aged 14 years, was hospitalized and diagnosed with active TB. After immediate TB testing of fellow students at high risk (n = 198) indicated that 29.8% were TB positive, the entire high school population (n = 2,000) was tested. ICS — designed to coordinate response to an incident that poses an immediate danger to the population or environment — was engaged to test the affected population in a 24-hour period.
More than 1,800 of the affected students and faculty were tested at the single-established location within 24 hours. Of the 1,494 who received tuberculin skin testing, 9.1% tested positive. Another 213 students underwent interferon-gamma release assay testing, of which 6.1% tested positive for TB. Two fully active cases of TB were diagnosed, resulting in hospitalization.
The researchers said the swift and successful implementation of ICS emphasized the effectiveness of the strategy as a response to future incidents of TB exposure.
“This incident demonstrates the importance of a coordinated emergency response in a large-scale deployment of rapid testing, including efficiently focused resources, organized testing operations, and effective media relations,” Kaiser and colleagues wrote. – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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