Tuberculosis outbreak in a grammar school, Serbia, 2016

Abstract

Serbia has a low incidence of tuberculosis (TB), with a decreasing trend in the last decade. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe an outbreak of TB infection that occurred in 2016 among students of a grammar school in Novi Pazar. February and November 2016. A 17-year-old girl, third-grade student of a grammar school (the index case), was diagnosed with smear-positive tuberculosis. Contact investigation was conducted, including chest X-ray examinations of over 1100 persons. After the index case was detected, a total of 16 (10 pulmonary and 6 extrapulmonary) tuberculosis patients were newly diagnosed during 2016. Among 11 culture positive cases, MIRU-VNTR method revealed that all Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were identical. Diagnostic delay contributed to the transmission of infection.