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Original Research
Evaluation of a screening chest X-ray programme for the detection of pulmonary tuberculosis in asymptomatic military members
Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases | Vol 33, No 5 | a145 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajid.v33i5.145
| © 2019 Gerhard van der Westhuizen, Mianda Naude, Carin Meyer, Mariette Nel
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 31 May 2019 | Published: 10 September 2018
Submitted: 31 May 2019 | Published: 10 September 2018
About the author(s)
Gerhard van der Westhuizen, Department of Clinical Imaging Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaMianda Naude, Head of Department, Department of Radiology, 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Carin Meyer, Department of Clinical Imaging Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Mariette Nel, Department of Biostatistics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Full Text:
PDF (410KB)Abstract
This study evaluated reports from screening chest X-rays (s-CXRs) done by the South African Military Health Services on asymptomatic military members over the age of 40. Focus was placed on the yield of tuberculosis (TB) positive s-CXRs and a total of 29 (1.2%) patients showed signs of active TB from a study population of 2 371 patients during a 54-month study period. Although the results from this study cannot be extrapolated to the general population, the findings indicate that screening of the general population could be of value in South Africa where there is a high incidence of TB.
Keywords
asymptomatic; chest radiographs; chest X-rays; military; screening; tuberculosis
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