Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis

Abstract

Unfortunately, advances in the management of tuberculosis (TB) occur all too slowly. It has, however, been quite a few years since the last guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of TB were published by the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR). During the intervening period, not only have advances been made in the treatment and, above all, the diagnosis of TB, but the demographic profile of Spain has also changed significantly as a result of increased immigration. Today, 10% of the country’s population is foreign born and 30% of TB cases involve immigrant patients. In this context, we considered it both timely and essential to update the society’s guidelines and adapt the recommendations to take into account these changes in the composition of Spanish society.. To simplify access to the information, we decided to combine all the society’s recommendations on the diagnosis and treatment of TB in a single practice guideline based on the scientific evidence currently available. Recommendations are graded as A, B, C, or D. A grade A classification indicates that the supporting scientific evidence is good or very good (level 1 trials); grade B indicates that the evidence is reasonably good (level 2 trials); grade C that the supporting evidence is scant (individual case reports and case series); and grade D that the recommendation is based on expert opinion or consensus. We would like to thank SEPAR’s Scientific Committee for their confidence in the ability of this group of experts to compile the new TB guidelines, and we hope that the resulting document will be of use in improving the management of TB. DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOUS INFECTION