A study using molecular, epidemiological and sociological information to examine obstacles and opportunities to interrupt the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area.

This research study sought to examine obstacles and opportunities to interrupting the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area. Four sub-studies were devised. The first sought to describe the epidemiology of recently transmitted TB in Greater Glasgow, by analysing epidemiological data for culture positive cases (diagnosed January 2000 to 11th November 2003), for whom IS6770 RFLP patterns were available. Secondly, the social network of cases clustered on the basis of sharing a genetically indistinguishable IS6110 RFLP pattern (believed to represent recent transmission) was explored, to improve current understanding of the nature of epidemiological links between cases. The third sub-study sought to examine the understanding of TB transmission and causation and help seeking beliefs of cases included in the second sub-study. An evaluation of contract tracing was undertaken for the final sub-study, and cases diagnosed with pulmonary TB in Glasgow between 2000 and 2003 were included.