Tuberculosis screening in an aged care residential facility in a low-incidence setting

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a disease of high morbidity in Australia, with implications for both public health and the individual. Cost analyses is relevant for programmatic evaluation of TB. There is minimal published TB cost data in the Australian setting. Patients with drug sensitive active pulmonary TB (DS-PTB) and latent TB (LTBI) were enrolled in a single tertiary referral centre to evaluate healthcare provider costs. The median cost of treating drug susceptible pulmonary TB in this case series was 11,538 AUD. Approximately 50% of total costs is derived from inpatient hospitalisation bed days. In comparison, the average cost of managing latent TB was 582 AUD per completed course. We find..