TB NOTES

TB Trials Consortium (TBTC) Virtual Meeting

The TBTC Virtual Meeting was hosted from May 10 –12, 2022. Despite the virtual environment, the interactive meeting offered participants with a variety of opportunities to connect and collaborate. This was the first TBTC meeting where our new Clinical Research Branch (CRB) Chief, Wendy Carr, was able to address the whole Consortium and present her vision. Dr. Carr discussed building a cohesive consortium with a pipeline of research studies by increasing collaboration and partnerships internally and externally as well as accelerating study development and implementation. In addition to the general sessions, the meeting held dedicated forums for laboratorians and study coordinators.

Submitted by Carla Jeffries, JD, MPH

Kia Bryant selected as Team Lead for Data Management and Implementation Team

CRB is happy to announce Kia Bryant as the new Data Management and Implementation Team Lead. Kia has served as the Acting Team Lead for the Team since January. Prior to this role, she was an epidemiologist on the team working primarily on the quality assurance of study data through the development of quality assurance reports for TBTC clinical trial sites. In addition, she participated in the implementation of the TBTC Study 31/ACTG A5439 statistical analysis plan and data analysis. She has been a member of CRB since 2016.

Submitted by Carla Jeffries, JD, MPH

The Think. Test. Treat TB patient and provider education materials are now available in Chinese, English, Ilocano, Marshallese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Check out the new Campaign Resource Overview Guide for a list of available graphics, fact sheets, and other materials. Print materials are available to order for free through CDC INFO on Demand.

Think. Test. Treat TB materials have been spotted in Seattle, Washington, and Los Angeles, California. Mobile ads were spotted outside the International Community Health Services clinic in Seattle. The TB team from Los Angeles Department of Public Health spread the Think. Test. Treat TB message in their community as part of World TB Day activities.

For more information about this campaign, and ideas on how to use the campaign in your community, visit cdc.gov/thinktesttreattb and follow our activities on Twitter and Facebook.

Submitted by Leeanna Allen, MPH and Nick DeLuca, PhD

Ukrainian TB Resources Available

“Questions and Answers about Tuberculosis” and “TB: General Information fact sheet” are now available in Ukrainian. Access patient and general public materials in multiple languages on the CDC website, including Dari, Pashto, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and more. Materials can be ordered for free through CDC-INFO on Demand [PDF – 685 KB].

Submitted by Peri Hopkins, MPH

Stop TB poster

In June 2022, CDC released an updated Stop TB poster [PDF – 2 MB]. The Stop TB poster was originally released over 20 years ago and was previously updated in 2012. The poster can be used by TB programs and other healthcare settings to help educate people with TB disease and latent TB infection, as well as people at risk for TB.

The revised Stop TB poster:

• incorporates new graphics,
• describes how TB is spread,
• explains the difference between latent TB infection and TB disease,
• includes symptoms of active TB disease, and
• highlights the importance of completing TB treatment to help stop TB.

To download online copies in English and Spanish, please check out the CDC website. To order print copies, please visit CDC-INFO on Demand [PDF – 685 KB].

Submitted by Carissa Sera-Josef, MS, CHES

Kathryn Winglee selected as Team Lead for Epidemiology Team

Dr. Kathryn Winglee has been selected as the permanent Epidemiology Team Lead in SEOIB. Dr. Winglee has been serving on detail as Epidemiology Team Lead since January, where she has been leading the implementation of the TB Epidemiologic Studies Consortium (TBESC)-III, the wrap-up of TBESC-II, the development of a cooperative agreement to improve latent TB infection connections to care for persons undergoing immigration status adjustment, and many other projects under the Epidemiology Team umbrella.

Submitted by Julie Self, PhD, MPH

Program Evaluation Open Forums offered by the TB Program Evaluation Network (TB PEN)

TB programs use program evaluation to promote program improvement and help move towards the goal of TB elimination. The TB Program Evaluation Network (PEN) is a unique network of Program Evaluation Focal Points from each state and some local TB programs. The mission of TB PEN is to develop and strengthen the capacity of state and local TB programs to monitor and evaluate their programs and use findings to enhance the effectiveness of prevention and control activities.

TB PEN works to strengthen program evaluation capacity among state and local TB programs by hosting bi-monthly Open Forum Sessions. These hour-long virtual sessions focus on relevant topics to TB PEN members. For example, TB focal points recently described how they used Aggregate Reports for Tuberculosis Program Evaluation (ARPE) data to inform program evaluation and improvement activities in their jurisdictions. Other recent Open Forums offered tools and ideas that can be used to enhance performance, monitoring, evaluation, and program improvement activities, including:

• The Economic Costing of Video DOT Programs: a DIY Tool for Local Health Departments
• Utilizing NTIP for Performance Monitoring and Program Evaluation: Findings and Tips from TB Programs.

TB PEN plans to continue supporting evaluation capacity among TB programs by offering topics such as “Evaluation 101 Training” to help inform newer PEN Focal Points and serve as a refresher for others. Other upcoming topics may include:

• Implementing and improving targeted testing and treatment: Latent TB infection (LTBI) presentations by state and city TB programs
• Community-based approaches to improve TB disease and latent TB infection care amongst disproportionately affected populations

We invite you to join in future TB PEN Open Forums and participate in the TB PEN by emailing tbpen@cdc.gov.

Submitted by Tempest Hill, DrPH, MPH

Laboratory Branch Achieves ISO17025 Reaccreditation

In early 2015, the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination’s Laboratory Branch was selected by CDC’s Office for Laboratory Science and Safety (OLSS) as one of five pilot laboratories tasked with seeking accreditation to the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) Standard 17025 for Testing and Calibration Laboratories. The laboratory obtained accreditation to the standard in 2018. On March 17–18, 2022, Laboratory Branch successfully completed a full reassessment by American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). This included a review of purchasing, customer satisfaction, communication, equipment maintenance, environmental controls, sample accessioning, technical procedures, quality control, test reporting, training and competency, and direct observation of the test procedure under scope (pyrosequencing). To maintain accreditation requires a high level of commitment, support, and effort from all laboratory staff members.

Submitted by Lois Diem

2022 National TB Conference

The 2022 National TB Conference (NTCA) hosted an in-person TB conference from May 23 -26, 2022 in Rancho Mirage, California. The theme of the conference was “TB Elimination: Back in Focus.” The agenda for this conference was curated to provide TB-themed content with a refocus on public health and TB. Session topics included new TB guidelines, TB during pregnancy, new arrivals in the United States, as well as specific sessions for clinicians, nurses, and epidemiologists. Dr. Andrew Vernon, former chief of DTBE’s Clinical Research Branch, received the Robert Koch Award, which recognizes an outstanding contribution with a clinical, epidemiological or academic focus by a TB researcher or TB research organization working to eliminate TB. To learn more, visit the conference website.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Twitter Storm

On May 27, 2022, the TB Elimination Alliance hosted a Twitter Storm to raise awareness about TB disease and latent TB infection during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Participants included the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), the Hepatitis B Foundation, Stop TB USA, and others. Overall, there were around 100 tweets and 29 participants in the Storm. To catch up on the messages, search #TEAstorm22 on Twitter.

Kim S, Cohen T, Horsburgh CR, Miller JW, Hill AN, Marks SM, Li R, Kammerer JS, Salomon JA, Menzies NA. Trends, mechanisms, and racial/ethnic differences of tuberculosis incidence in the US-born population aged 50 years or older in the United States. Clin Infect Dis 2022;74(9):1594–603.

Chu VT, Schwartz NG, Donnelly MAP, Chuey MR, Soto R, Yousaf AR, Schmitt-Matzen EN, Sleweon S, Ruffin J, Thornburg N, Harcourt JL, Tamin A, Kim G, Folster JM, Hughes LJ, Tong S, Stringer G, Albanese BA, Totten SE, Hudziec MM, Matzinger SR, Dietrich EA, Sheldon SW, Stous S, McDonald EC, Austin B, Beatty ME, Staples JE, Killerby ME, Hsu CH, Tate JE, Kirking HL, Matanock A; COVID-19 Household Transmission Team. Comparison of home antigen testing with RT-PCR and viral culture during the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection. JAMA Intern Med 2022. Epub ahead of print.

Smith JP, Oeltmann JE, Hill AN, Tobias JL, Boyd R, Click ES, Finlay A, Mondongo C, Zetola NM, Moonan PK. Characterizing tuberculosis transmission dynamics in high-burden urban and rural settings. Sci Rep 2022;12(1):6780.

Waltenburg MA, Whaley MJ, Chancey RJ, Donnelly MAP, Chuey MR, Soto R, Schwartz NG, Chu VT, Sleweon S, McCormick DW, Uehara A, Retchless AC, Tong S, Folster JM, Petway M, Thornburg NJ, Drobeniuc J, Austin B, Hudziec MM, Stringer G, Albanese BA, Totten SE, Matzinger SR, Staples JE, Killerby ME, Hughes LJ, Matanock A, Beatty M, Tate JE, Kirking HL, Hsu CH; COVID-19 Laboratory & Testing Task Force. Household transmission and symptomology of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant among children—California and Colorado, 2021. J Pediatr 2022. Epub ahead of print

Filardo TD, Feng P, Pratt RH, Price SF, Self JL. Tuberculosis—United States, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:441–6.

Holzman SB, Perry A, Saleeb P, Pyan A, Keh C, Salcedo K, Narita M, Ahmed A, Miller TL, Pettit AC, Khurana R, Whipple M, Katz D, Largen A, Krueger A, Shah M. Evaluation of the latent tuberculosis care cascade among public health clinics in the United States. Clin Infect Dis 2022. Epub ahead of print.

Phillips PPJ, Kurbatova EV, Dorman SE. Four-month rifapentine regimens for tuberculosis—reply. N Engl J Med 2022;386(11):1095–6.

Smith JP, Modongo C, Moonan PK, Dima M, Matsiri O, Fane O, Click ES, Boyd R, Finlay A, Surie D, Tobias JL, Zetola NM, Oeltmann JE. Tuberculosis attributed to transmission within healthcare facilities, Botswana—The Kopanyo Study. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2022. Epub ahead of print.

Spaulding AC, Rabeeah Z, Del Mar González-Montalvo M, Akiyama MJ, Baker BJ, Bauer HM, Gibson BR, Nijhawan AE, Parvez F, Wangu Z, Chan PA; Rollins Investigational Team on STIs in Corrections. Prevalence and management of sexually transmitted infections in correctional settings: a systematic review. Clin Infect Dis 2022;74(Supplement 2):S193–S217. (Parvez, also with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene).

Carr W, Kurbatova E, Starks A, Goswami N, Allen L, Winston C. Interim guidance: 4-month rifapentine-moxifloxacin regimen for the treatment of drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis—United States, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71(8):285–9.

Gargis AS, Spicer LM, Kent AG, Zhu W, Campbell D, McAllister G, Ewing TO, Albrecht V, Stevens VA, Sheth M, Padilla J, Batra D, Johnson JK, Halpin AL, Rasheed JK, Elkins CA, Karlsson M, Lutgring JD. Sentinel surveillance reveals emerging daptomycin-resistant ST736 Enterococcus faecium and multiple mechanisms of linezolid resistance in enterococci in the United States. Front Microbiol 2022;12:807398.

Saelee R, Zell E, Murthy BP, Castro-Roman P, Fast H, Meng L, Shaw L, Gibbs-Scharf L, Chorba T, Harris LQ, Murthy N. Disparities in COVID-19 vaccination coverage between urban and rural counties—United States, December 14, 2020–January 31, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:335–40.

Winglee K, Hill AN, Belknap R, Stout JE, Ayers T. Variability of interferon-γ release assays in people at high risk of tuberculosis infection or progression to tuberculosis disease living in the United States. Clin Microbiol Infect 2022:S1198-743X(22)00094-5. Epub ahead of print.