Recommendations for investigating contacts of persons with infectious tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries

Tuberculosis (TB) contacts are people who have close contact with patients with infectious TB. As they are at high risk for infection (and in line with the Stop TB strategy), TB contacts should be investigated systematically and actively for TB infection and disease. Such interventions are called ‘tuberculosis contact investigations’. They contribute to early identification of active TB, thus decreasing its severity and reducing transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to others, and identification of latent TB infection (LTBI), to allow preventive measures.