Outbreak of tuberculosis in a migrants' shelter, Paris, France, 2002

An overcrowded 362-bed migrants' shelter in Paris, France.

To investigate an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB), to identify a common source of contamination and to prevent further transmission.

The outbreak was identified by radiographic screening and an active search for undeclared hospital treated cases, completed by strain phenotyping and a search for contact cases.

Between October 2001 and October 2002, 56 cases of active TB were identified, 30 by radiological screening and 20 by contacting neighbouring hospitals. All cases involved men, with a median age of 30 years. Pulmonary involvement was present in 54% of cases, and nine patients were sputum smear-positive. Thirty-four of the 37 phenotyped strains clustered together.

The grouping of the cases in time and place, the large number of cases with early-stage disease and the identical RFLP banding patterns of most of the isolates indicate that this outbreak results from transmission that occurred in France. This report underlines the need for public health departments in industrialised countries to maintain effective anti-tuberculosis control programmes.