In 2005, a report from the CDC stated that "one of the most critical risks for healthcare-associated transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in health care settings is from patients with unrecognized TB disease who are not promptly handled with appropriate airborne precautions or who are moved from an AII [airborne infection isolation] room too soon."*
These fundamentals of infection control have proven to substantially reduce healthcare-associated transmission of TB, including multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB:
- Use of standardized anti-tuberculosis treatment regimens in the initial phase of therapy
- Rapid drug susceptibility testing
- Directly observed therapy in which a health professional watches a patient swallow each dose of medication and records the date that the administration was observed
- Improved infection control practices, including adherence to droplet and airborne precautions
