Latent Infection Freshmen Tracking for Tuberculosis

Summary

The goal of this study is to learn whether taking short-course preventive treatment in high school and college freshmen with strong positive tuberculosis (TB) skin tests can safely and effectively protect them from developing active TB over a 3-to-4-years period. Main question: Does taking short-course preventive treatment reduce the risk of active TB in freshmen who have strong positive TB skin tests? All freshmen across 26 schools in Meishan City, Sichuan Province, China were screened for TB. Among them, the students with strong positive skin tests (indicating latent TB infection) and no active disease entered the study. Students voluntarily chose to either take a 3-month short-course preventive treatment under campus medical supervision or receive routine health observation without medication. Researchers tracked all participants for 3 to 4 years to monitor who developed active TB and evaluate the treatment's safety and effectiveness.

Timeline

Start

2022-08-15

Primary completion

2026-08-31

Completion

2029-08-31

Publications

• Background You NN, Zhu LM, Li GL, Martinez L, Lu W, Liu Q, Yang HT. A tuberculosis school outbreak in China, 2018: reaching an often overlooked adolescent population. Epidemiol Infect. 2019 Nov 18;147:e303. doi: 10.1017/S0950268819001882.
• Background Tang J, Xie M, Li C, Huang F, Peng L, Qu Y, Mei J, Liu Z, Liu E, Guo Y, Wang Y. A clustered pulmonary Tuberculosis outbreak at a technical school in Shenzhen, China. Front Pediatr. 2026 May 7;14:1817016. doi: 10.3389/fped.2026.1817016. eCollection 2026.
• Background Sterling TR, Villarino ME, Borisov AS, Shang N, Gordin F, Bliven-Sizemore E, Hackman J, Hamilton CD, Menzies D, Kerrigan A, Weis SE, Weiner M, Wing D, Conde MB, Bozeman L, Horsburgh CR Jr, Chaisson RE; TB Trials Consortium PREVENT TB Study Team. Three months of rifapentine and isoniazid for latent tuberculosis infection. N Engl J Med. 2011 Dec 8;365(23):2155-66. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1104875.
• Background Spyridis NP, Spyridis PG, Gelesme A, Sypsa V, Valianatou M, Metsou F, Gourgiotis D, Tsolia MN. The effectiveness of a 9-month regimen of isoniazid alone versus 3- and 4-month regimens of isoniazid plus rifampin for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection in children: results of an 11-year randomized study. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Sep 15;45(6):715-22. doi: 10.1086/520983. Epub 2007 Aug 6.
• Background Snow KJ, Cruz AT, Seddon JA, Ferrand RA, Chiang SS, Hughes JA, Kampmann B, Graham SM, Dodd PJ, Houben RM, Denholm JT, Sawyer SM, Kranzer K. Adolescent tuberculosis. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020 Jan;4(1):68-79. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30337-2. Epub 2019 Nov 18.
• Background Rodriguez-Marquez I, Benjumea-Bedoya D, Restrepo-Gouzy AV, Beltran-Arroyave CP, Marin D, Montes-Zuluaga FN, Alzate-Angel JC, Cadavid-Alvarez LM, Paniagua-Saldarriaga LA, Realpe T, Perea-Torres Y, Arango-Garcia LM, Perez-Doncel N, Arbelaez-Montoya MP, Robledo J. Adherence to treatment for tuberculosis infection in children using a comprehensive care strategy: a prospective cohort study with a historical control group. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2025 Apr 22;46:101094. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2025.101094. eCollection 2025 Jun.
• Background Pelzer PT, Stuck L, Martinez L, Richards AS, Acuna-Villaorduna C, Aronson NE, Bonnet M, Carvalho AC, Chan PC, Huang LM, Fang CT, Churchyard G, Corral-Londono HD, Datta M, Espinal MA, Fielding K, Fiore-Gartland AJ, Garcia-Basteiro A, Hanekom W, Hatherill M, Hill PC, Huerga H, Jones-Lopez EC, Kritski A, Mandalakas AM, Mangtani P, Martins Netto E, Mayanja H, Mazahir R, Murray M, Rangaka M, Scriba T, Singh J, Singh S, Stein CM, Vekemans J, Verhagen LM, Villalba JA, Wajja A, Watson B, White RG, Cobelens FGJ. Effectiveness of the primary Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine against the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease: a meta-analysis of individual participant data. Lancet Microbe. 2025 Feb;6(2):100961. doi: 10.1016/j.lanmic.2024.100961. Epub 2024 Dec 19.
• Background Pangprasertkul S, Buawangpong N, Pinyopornpanish K, Jiraporncharoen W, Angkurawaranon C. Treatment completion and safety profile of once-weekly 3HP regimen for tuberculosis preventive treatment in children and adolescents: a systematic review. BMC Infect Dis. 2025 Mar 28;25(1):436. doi: 10.1186/s12879-025-10832-7.
• Background National Tuberculosis Controllers Association; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Guidelines for the investigation of contacts of persons with infectious tuberculosis. Recommendations from the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association and CDC. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2005 Dec 16;54(RR-15):1-47.
• Background Mohle-Boetani JC, Miller B, Halpern M, Trivedi A, Lessler J, Solomon SL, Fenstersheib M. School-based screening for tuberculous infection. A cost-benefit analysis. JAMA. 1995 Aug 23-30;274(8):613-9.
• Background Mandalakas AM, Hesseling AC, Kay A, Du Preez K, Martinez L, Ronge L, DiNardo A, Lange C, Kirchner HL. Tuberculosis prevention in children: a prospective community-based study in South Africa. Eur Respir J. 2021 Apr 22;57(4):2003028. doi: 10.1183/13993003.03028-2020. Print 2021 Apr.
• Background Getahun H, Matteelli A, Chaisson RE, Raviglione M. Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. N Engl J Med. 2015 May 28;372(22):2127-35. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1405427. No abstract available.
• Background Gao L, Zhang H, Xin H, Liu J, Pan S, Li X, Guan L, Shen F, Liu Z, Wang D, Guan X, Yan J, Li H, Feng B, Cao X, Chen Y, Cui W, Zhang Z, Ma Y, Chen X, Zhou X, Jin Q; LATENTTB-NSTM study team. Short-course regimens of rifapentine plus isoniazid to treat latent tuberculosis infection in older Chinese patients: a randomised controlled study. Eur Respir J. 2018 Dec 20;52(6):1801470. doi: 10.1183/13993003.01470-2018. Print 2018 Dec.
• Background Gao L, Lu W, Bai L, Wang X, Xu J, Catanzaro A, Cardenas V, Li X, Yang Y, Du J, Sui H, Xia Y, Li M, Feng B, Li Z, Xin H, Zhao R, Liu J, Pan S, Shen F, He J, Yang S, Si H, Wang Y, Xu Z, Tan Y, Chen T, Xu W, Peng H, Wang Z, Zhu T, Zhou F, Liu H, Zhao Y, Cheng S, Jin Q; LATENTTB-NSTM study team. Latent tuberculosis infection in rural China: baseline results of a population-based, multicentre, prospective cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2015 Mar;15(3):310-9. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(14)71085-0. Epub 2015 Feb 11.
• Background Benjumea-Bedoya D, Beltran-Arroyave C, Restrepo Gouzy A, Barrera LF, Cadavid LM, Velez-Parra G, Molinares B, Marin D, Montes F, Pulido H, Suarez M, Robledo J, Arbelaez-Montoya MP. The effectiveness of preventive tuberculosis treatment in children. BMC Infect Dis. 2026 Feb 5;26(1):511. doi: 10.1186/s12879-026-12726-8.
• Background Bao H, Liu K, Wu Z, Wang X, Chai C, He T, Wang W, Wang F, Peng Y, Chen B, Jiang J. Tuberculosis outbreaks among students in mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infect Dis. 2019 Nov 14;19(1):972. doi: 10.1186/s12879-019-4573-3.

Drugs

Indications