Tuberculosis risk refugees to be x-rayed
Asylum seekers from countries with a high tuberculosis risk are to be x-rayed for the disease, the Federal Health Office has announced.
The temporary measure is to be introduced following concerns over two cases of drug resistant TB among refugees in Switzerland.
Swiss authorities abolished mandatory x-rays for asylum seekers at the country’s borders in 2006 on cost grounds. These tests were replaced by individual health evaluations and check-ups.
But Swiss cantons have sounded the alarm after two cases of a drug resistant strain of TB among asylum seekers came to light in cantons Lucerne and Zurich. This has prompted action by the federal authorities.
Karine Begey, spokeswoman for the health office, told swissinfo that the new pilot scheme will use x-rays to check for tuberculosis.
Those being tested will be asylum seekers from certain countries in eastern Europe and central Africa, she said.
The health office still has to define which countries will be affected by the scans and how long the scheme will last. An evaluation of x-ray testing will be carried out in 2008.
The office warned, however, that although the current system would help reduce risks it could not eliminate them completely.
A working group on border health would decide on further measures in the coming days, added Begey.
A blanket reintroduction of TB tests at Swiss borders has for the moment been ruled out, she said.
Concerns over TB
The move comes a day after top cantonal health officials called on the health office to consider reintroducing tests at the country’s borders following the two severe cases of TB.
The federal authorities had previously been criticised for failing to give out information early enough about the case of one man, an asylum seeker from Africa, in canton Lucerne.
He had previously been treated for TB in canton Vaud, but the message had not been passed on to the authorities in Lucerne. It was later determined that he had a drug resistant strain of the respiratory tract disease.
Another case, in a Tibetan, was discovered in canton Zurich last autumn.
Tuberculosis affects around 8.8 million people around the world, and around 1.6 million people die from the curable disease each year, according to the World Health Organization.
It has been making a resurgence of late in both developing and developed countries. One of the reasons is the prevalence of HIV, which weakens the immune system.
Drug resistant strains have also come about, mainly due to the over-prescribing of antibiotics or by patients not taking medicines long enough.
swissinfo with agencies
In the WHO European Region, there were 445,000 new TB cases in 2005 and 66,000 deaths. In the same year, the WHO declared a TB emergency in the region.
European Union countries report 23% of all new cases and former Soviet and eastern bloc countries, Russia and Turkey account for 73% of the total cases.
Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) does not respond to the standard treatments, using first-line drugs. Every year, 450,000 new MDR-TB cases are estimated to occur worldwide, including 70,000 in the European region.
Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) occurs when resistance to second-line drugs develops. It is extremely difficult to treat and cases have been confirmed all over the world.
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