National Tuberculosis Programme, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana.
Sustaining Technical and Analytical Resources (STAR)/USAID, Accra, Ghana.
BMC Infect Dis. 2023 Apr 17;23(1):236. doi: 10.1186/s12879-023-08208-w.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health threat in Ghana. The impact of COVID-19 resulted in a 15% decline of TB case notification in 2020 compared to 2019. To mitigate the impact on TB services, the Ghana National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) introduced the bidirectional screening and testing for TB and COVID-19 in 2021.
To evaluate the yield of bidirectional screening and testing for TB and COVID-19 among facility attendees in the Greater Accra region.
We used secondary data obtained from the initial implementation stage of the bidirectional testing for TB and COVID-19 among COVID-19 and/or TB presumed cases in five health facilities in the Greater Accra Region from January to March 2021. To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on TB services and accelerate TB case detection, the NTP of Ghana introduced bidirectional screening and testing for TB and COVID-19 in Greater Accra Region before scaling up at national level.
A total of 208 presumed TB or COVID-19 cases were identified: 113 were tested for COVID-19 only, and 94 were tested for both TB and COVID-19, 1 was tested for TB only. Among presumed cases tested for COVID-19, 9.7% (95% CI, 5.6-13.7%) were tested positive. Whilst among the total presumed tested for TB, 13.7% (95% CI, 6.8-20.6%) were confirmed to have TB. Among the total 94 presumed cases tested for both TB and COVID-19, 11.7% (95% CI, 5.2-18.2%) were confirmed to have TB and 13.8% (95% CI, 6.9-20.8%) participants were COVID-19 positive and one participant (1.1%) had both COVID-19 and TB.
Bidirectional screening and testing for TB and COVID-19 shows significant potential for improving overall case detection for the two diseases. The bidirectional screening and testing could be applicable to address a similar respiratory epidemic in the future that might have a masking effect on the response to TB disease.
结核病（TB）仍然是加纳的主要公共卫生威胁。与 2019 年相比，2020 年 COVID-19 的影响导致结核病病例报告下降了 15%。为了减轻对结核病服务的影响，加纳国家结核病规划（NTP）于 2021 年引入了结核病和 COVID-19 的双向筛查和检测。
评估在大阿克拉地区就诊者中进行结核病和 COVID-19 双向筛查和检测的效果。
我们使用了 2021 年 1 月至 3 月从大阿克拉地区五家卫生机构中 COVID-19 和/或结核病假定病例中实施结核病和 COVID-19 双向检测的初步实施阶段获得的二级数据。为了减轻 COVID-19 对结核病服务的影响并加速结核病病例的发现，加纳 NTP 在全国范围内扩大规模之前，在大阿克拉地区引入了结核病和 COVID-19 的双向筛查和检测。
共发现 208 例疑似结核病或 COVID-19 病例：113 例仅接受 COVID-19 检测，94 例同时接受结核病和 COVID-19 检测，1 例仅接受结核病检测。在接受 COVID-19 检测的疑似病例中，9.7%（95%CI，5.6-13.7%）检测结果呈阳性。而在接受结核病检测的总疑似病例中，13.7%（95%CI，6.8-20.6%）被确认为结核病。在总共 94 例同时接受结核病和 COVID-19 检测的疑似病例中，11.7%（95%CI，5.2-18.2%）被确认为结核病，13.8%（95%CI，6.9-20.8%）的参与者 COVID-19 检测结果呈阳性，1 例（1.1%）同时患有 COVID-19 和结核病。
结核病和 COVID-19 的双向筛查和检测显示出对两种疾病总体病例检测的显著潜力。这种双向筛查和检测可应用于未来类似的呼吸道传染病，以减轻对结核病的反应。
