Kenya – TB screening among Household Contacts with Delft Light & CAD4TB
Household contacts of TB patients are at increased risk of infection and often require targeted screening. Kenya introduced AI-supported digital X-ray screening to improve TB detection among this high-risk group.
Deployment of new screening tools
Eight Delft Light ultra-portable digital X-ray systems with CAD4TB were deployed through the iNTP project.
Targeted screening of household contacts
Household contacts were symptomatically screened and offered chest X-ray examination.
AI-guided presumptive identification
Individuals with CAD4TB scores >60 were referred for laboratory investigation.
Confirmatory testing and treatment
TB-confirmed individuals were initiated on treatment.
For household contacts,
- 161 people had a score of >60. Of these, 90 (56%) were offered TB lab investigations, and 40 (44%) turned positive.
- 163 symptomatic contacts with CAD scores of <60 were offered a lab test, and 8% (13) tested positive.
For non-household contacts,
- 140 (38%) turned positive with a lab test, while 5% of those with a score of <60 were confirmed to have TB.
- The TB prevalence was higher among household contacts (2.6%) than the non-contacts (1.4%).
- The availability of digital CXR with CAD helped identify who to send to the lab.
- There is a need to invest more in this technology to identify more TB cases among persons in contact with TB patients and early initiation to treatment to minimise further transmission.
REFERENCE: Pola, R. (2023, November 15-18). Digital chest X-ray with computer-aided diagnosis: a useful tool to diagnose TB among contacts, Kenya, 2022-2023 [Conference session]. The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2023, Paris, France.