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TB Notes Newsletter
No.
3, 2007
Evaluation Team Visits TB
Isolation
Village in
Thailand
Mae La Camp is located in the Tak
Province in northwest
Thailand. The camp houses about
45,000 refugees, including the largest number of displaced Burmese
in Thailand.
When refugees in Mae La Camp are diagnosed with active pulmonary TB,
they are transferred to an area at the far southwest part of the
camp known as TB Village, overseen by Doctors Without Borders/
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
To reach TB Village, one must climb a steep, 500-yard footpath up
the hillside. Just before TB Village, there is a storehouse for food
and medications. At this point, all visitors, medical staff, and
village maintenance staff are required to don an N-95 mask, to be
worn at all times while in the village.
A TB Program Evaluation Team recently visited Mae La Camp on the
Thai-Burmese border to provide recommendations to CDC's Division of
Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) and to DTBE for improving the
effectiveness and practicality of the new Tuberculosis Technical
Instructions; and to provide recommendations to the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) for the
screening, diagnosis, and treatment of TB in refugees resettling to
the United States from Thailand. The evaluation was led by external
TB program consultants, Drs. Charlie Nolan and Gisella Schecter
(team co-leaders), and Dr. Sundari Mase.
DGMQ, DTBE, and IOM: Each Has its
Own Responsibilities
Each year, about 400,000 immigrants and 50,000 refugees enter the
United States from overseas
locations. These applicants for
US
immigration are required to undergo medical screening for diseases
of public health significance, referred to as inadmissible
conditions, which include infectious TB.
DGMQ has regulatory authority to stipulate the
requirements of the overseas medical examination via the technical
instructions specific to each inadmissible condition (42
CFR Part 34). DTBE provides subject-matter expertise to DGMQ
in overseeing the TB screening portion of the examination.
IOM is providing the required
medical screening and TB treatment for refugees.
IOM expects to process 15,000 Burmese refugees from Mae La Camp
between April and the end of September 2007 for relocation to the
United States. If additional TB
cases are identified during the medical screenings, refugees with
potentially infectious TB will be transferred from the general camp
to TB Village, where they will be placed under a plan of care
established between IOM and MSF. Once TB
treatment is complete, these refugees will be eligible for
relocation to the
United States.
 Shown here are members of the Evaluation Team, along with MSF and
IOM staff, preparing to visit TB Village. Left to right: MSF staff
member; Jay Varma, DTBE Thailand; 2 IOM
staff in blue shirts; Tom Navin, DTBE; Tom Shinnick, DTBE (partially
hidden); Charlie Nolan, TB consultant; Gisella Schecter, California
TB Physician Liaison; Pierre King, IOM;
Wanda Walton, DTBE; Drew Posey, DGMQ; Dan Bleed, Thailand TB
program.
—
Reported by Wanda Walton, PhD
Div of TB Elimination
Last Reviewed: 05/18/2008
Content Source: Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
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