The International Consensus for Early TB framework (ICE-TB): Implications from a low-incidence setting

Abstract

BACKGROUNDIn recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the public health significance of the spectrum of TB disease presentation, and the existing classification systems of asymptomatic infection and symptomatic TB have been limited in terms of explanatory power. Accordingly, in 2022-2023, a new International Consensus framework for Early TB (ICE-TB) was developed, categorising the spectrum of TB infection and disease into five states based on the presence or absence of macroscopic pathology, host infectiousness, and symptoms and signs.METHODSWe used the ICE-TB framework to re-analyse existing notification data for 2022 within a low-incidence setting to explore the potential uti..