Foreign born tuberculosis in Canada: Are current screening and control practices working?

Western countries including Canada have seen a steady decline in the incidence rates of tuberculosis (TB) since the advent of anti-tuberculosis drugs in the 1940s. However, less developed nations continue to struggle with high incidence rates as a result of inadequate prevention and treatment programs. The relatively high influx of immigrants from high-incidence countries poses a public health risk for individuals in low-incidence countries, such as Canada. This paper seeks to determine if TB prevention and control programs in Canada are adequately equipped to handle foreign-born TB (FB TB) cases and what improvements, if any, can be made to the current reporting and surveillance system. An overview of screening and surveillance procedures from a range of other countries is used to provide a basis for comparison and recommendations, as is an analysis of data from the Canadian Tuberculosis Reporting System (CTBRS).