The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
November 28, 2025 · via Europe PMC
Aircraft contact investigations for TB on domestic and inbound flights to the United States.
Swisher S, Weigelt D, Zaborowski E, +7 more, Mase S
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Aircraft TB contact investigations found few secondary cases, most with other risk factors, and outcome data were too incomplete to prove in-flight transmission.
What was studied
Descriptive analysis of US CDC aircraft contact investigation data submitted by health departments from 2011 to 2022, covering 15,043 identified contacts.
Key findings
- Final TB status was known for only 2,282 of 15,043 contacts (15%).
- Of those, 3 (0.1%) had TB disease and 366 (16%) had TB infection; most had other exposure risk factors.
- Ten contacts converted on serial testing within 4 months of the flight, suggesting recent infection.
- Some contacts were tested before health departments were notified.
Clinical relevance
It shows that flight-related TB exposure notifications are resource-heavy and have low yield, which helps public health and primary care clinicians interpret results in notified travelers.
Who should care
Limitations
Only 15% of contacts had final outcomes, so the data cannot establish transmission rates or support robust recommendations.
When a patient reports a flight exposure, test and follow up per health department guidance but consider other risk factors before attributing infection to the flight.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
BACKGROUNDU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coordinates contact investigations (CIs) for TB exposures on commercial flights when criteria are met. Aircraft CIs are resource-intensive and require collaboration with health departments (HDs). Post-exposure TB assessments are challenging as multiple follow-up visits are needed. Evidence supporting TB transmission on aircraft is limited.METHODSTB aircraft CI outcomes data submitted to CDC by HDs from 24 June 2011 to 31 December 2022 were analysed using descriptive statistics to summarise outcomes, risk factors for prior exposure, timing of diagnosis, and data completeness.RESULTSOf 15,043 contacts identified, final determination of TB status was available for 2,282/15,043 (15%). Of these, 3/2,282 (0.1%) had TB disease and 366/22,282 (16%) had TB infection (TBI). Most (78%) contacts with TB had other exposure risk factors. Ten exhibited conversion on serial testing within 4 months after the flight, indicating recent infection. All contacts with TB disease and 44 with TBI (14% of those with test dates available) were tested before HDs were notified of aircraft exposure.CONCLUSIONTB aircraft CIs identified persons with TB disease or TBI; however, most had TB risk factors other than aircraft exposure. The low return of outcomes was a limitation for formulating robust recommendations..
DOI
10.5588/ijtld.25.0230
PMID
42396742
PMCID
PMC13336237
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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