Eurosurveillance has published Screening for infectious diseases among newly arrived asylum seekers, Bavaria, Germany, 2015. The conclusion:
The prevalence of TB, HIV and hepatitis B in asylum seekers arriving in Bavaria was generally very consistent with the reported prevalence in the respective countries of origin. Overall, it can be concluded that for most notifiable infectious diseases, the low absolute number of infectious cases among asylum seekers screened in Bavaria, suggests no additional risk for the resident population.
The main concern from a public health perspective might be the increase in absolute numbers of notified TB cases compared with the previous years. This highlights the importance of early TB case finding and consequent follow-up for both the asylum seeker population and the resident population. As a result of the low prevalence of Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. found in the screening, a symptom-based screening was implemented in Bavaria.
A country-based screening approach appears to be reasonable and resource-effective, since our data are in accordance with the reported national HIV and hepatitis B prevalence data for different countries of origin. Mandatory screening of specific diseases in asylum seekers originating from countries with higher prevalence of those diseases could facilitate early diagnosis and therefore provision of treatment to affected individuals while saving resources.
Recent Comments