Tuberculosis risk for travellers (pp 442, 461)
The risk of tuberculosis infection in long-term travellers to countries with high prevalence of the disease is substantial and of similar magnitude to the average risk for the local population, according to research published in this week’s issue of THE LANCET. Little attention has been paid to the potential of international travellers to reintroduce tuberculosis into countries where the disease has become rare. Frank Cobelens and colleagues quantified the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in 656 Dutch citizens who were about to visit an area of high tuberculosis prevalence (eg. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, or south-east Asia - where annual incidence is at least 1%)