Suspected pulmonary tuberculosis exposure at a remote U.S. army camp in northeastern Afghanistan, 2007

Military personnel serving at remote camps in the border regions of northeastern Afghanistan may experience crowded living conditions and may have frequent interaction with local national (LN) workers, increasing the risk of exposure to multiple endemic diseases including tuberculosis (TB). In January 2007, pulmonary TB was clinically suspected in a LN worker who had close contact with a company of 92 U.S. Army personnel at a remote camp in Konar province, Afghanistan, over 4 months. This report describes the results of the contact investigation conducted by the U.S. Army, in which four U.S. personnel were found to have evidence of TB exposure. This investigation raises concerns arising from the high prevalence of drug-resistant TB in the region and in neighboring North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, and demonstrates the challenges of conducting contact investigations and using LN workers in deployed wartime environments.