Results of tuberculosis contact tracing in a low incidence area using a Sharepoint database tool

<b>Background:</b> Denmark has a low and declining tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate of 5.0/10⁵. Close contacts of newly diagnosed contagious TB patient are offered contact tracing with chest X-ray, interferon gamma release assay, clinical examination, and if relevant sputum samples. <b>Methods:</b> Prospectively, we registered all new cases of TB in the Zealand Region, Denmark (835,000 inhabitants) in the period 2015-2019. The electronic Sharepoint database tool “TEAMSITES” was used by 4 centers separately from the EPIC EHR-system. Results of contact tracing were retrospectively evaluated. <b>Results:</b> 124 new TB cases were identified in the 5 year period, and 13 were children (&lt;18 years). Median age was 38 years (range 1-89 years). 70 cases (56%) were regarded as contagious. 39% of cases were of native Danish origin. The median number of tested contacts was 6 pr. contagious case (range 0-145), including parts of several educational institutions. In total 1518 persons were offered testing, and 4.5% rejected the offer. Overall, 1.1% and 10.1% of the tested contacts were found to have active and latent tuberculosis, respectively. 86% of the patients with latent tuberculosis were given prophylactic treatment. 64 sub-type clusters were identified (each with 1 to 12 TB-“members”) <b>Conclusion:</b> Also in low incidence areas, contact tracing is regarded an important element in early diagnosis of TB and in the attempt to eliminate TB. The electronic Sharepoint solution was a helpful tool. A significant number of patients with latent TB and some cases of active TB were identified by this regional contact tracing program.