Changes to the Country Information pages: Tuberculosis

NaTHNaC has reviewed and updated the tuberculosis (TB) country-specific information

NaTHNaC, in collaboration with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), has recently reviewed the country-specific guidance for tuberculosis (TB). Further information is available about this review.

Based on this review, country-specific vaccine recommendations have been updated for the following countries:

Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Honduras, Latvia, Maldives, Qatar and Syria.

Country-specific information can be found on our Country Information pages.

Advice for travellers

The current UK vaccination programme recommends Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination for some travellers (see below).

More information about TB can be found here.

Advice for health professionals

In general, BCG vaccination is not recommended for travellers to countries where the annual incidence of TB incidence is < 40 cases per 100,000 population.

BCG vaccination is recommended for the following immunocompetent travellers, staying for more than three months in a country where the presumed or average annual incidence of TB is 40/100,000 or greater and/or where the risk of Multi Drug Resistant-TB (MDR-TB) is high:

• children below 16 years of age who are travelling to stay with friends/family or local people
• healthcare workers in settings that are of high risk of exposure to patients diagnosed with TB particularly MDR-TB.

Also see the UKHSA 'green book' TB chapter for details on those who fit the criteria for vaccination in the UK programme.