Tb management in the european union/european economic area: A multi-centre survey

BACKGROUND: Essential TB care in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) comprises 21 standards for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB that constitute the European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ESTC). METHODS In 2017, we conducted an audit on TB management and infection control measures against the ESTC standards. TB reference centres in five EU/EEA countries were purposely selected to represent the heterogeneous European TB burden and examine geographic variability. RESULT S : Data from 122 patients, diagnosed between 2012 and 2015 with multidrug-resistant TB (n 49), extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) (n 11), pre-XDR-TB (n 29) and drug-susceptible TB (n 33), showed that TB diagnosis and treatment practices were in general in agreement with the ESTC. CONCLUS ION: Overall, TB management and infection control practices were in agreement with the ESTC in the selected EU/EEA reference centres. Areas for improvement include strengthening of integrated care services and further implementation of patient-centred approaches.