Henrieke Schimmel's research while affiliated with National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and other places

... Therefore, combining screening for TB disease and TBI, combined with TB symptom screening, could be a reasonable approach as TB disease must be ruled out for TBI diagnosis and serological or skin testing have been suggested to be valid methods for screening for TB disease [36]. TBI screening further has the potential to identify cases detected later through self-reporting, increasing potential effectiveness and cost effectiveness beyond the yields reported for follow-up screening. ...

... The "eligible-population-yield" of the different screening programmes varied by more than factor 100 and ranged between 53.05 (31.94 to 82.84) in a Dutch study [15] to 5,927 per 100,000 (4,248.29 to 8,013.71) in a US study [16] (see Table 2 and Fig 3). Of 15 estimates with narrow 95% CIs for yields (i.e., 95% CIs with uncertainty ranges less than 1,000 cases per 100,000) [12,13,15,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], 12 were below 1,500 cases per 100,000 eligible migrants (Fig 3). ...

... Major strengths of this study include the long follow-up time and that the study is population-based. We included all notified TB cases during the study period minimizing risk of selection bias using the Danish TB surveillance registry that has recently been found highly complete (99%) [37] . Because of the unique Danish CPR number, we were able to match cases and controls and to individually link detailed information across the national registries. ...

... Interestingly, other countries (United Kingdom [25,26], Canada [27,28], and the Netherlands) have implemented effectively the use of WGS in their tuberculosis programs [29] with massive success for defining outbreaks more precisely. Providing information on the dynamics of transmission and the presence of previously unidentified cases or possible "super-spreaders" should be prioritized for isolation and treatment [22]. ...

... When the aim is to interrupt community transmission, ongoing contact tracing of linked clusters may help prioritise the sequencing of community isolates [26]. ...

... Early detection and treatment of HIV infection in TB patients is key to improved TB treatment outcomes and reduced mortality in this group [8]. HIV detection rate among TB patients can be affected by testing practices, such as lack of universal HIV testing and test result reporting for TB patients [9,10]. In addition, TB patients may refuse HIV testing [9,10], which is associated with higher risk of unfavorable treatment outcomes [11,12]. ...

... The same fact sheet stated that in 2018, globally speaking, there were 9.37 million new cases of TB, with the African region and the Southeast Asian region (SEAR) having a share of 30% and 34%, respectively. 4 Peripheral nerves are parts of the nervous system responsible for transmitting information from all parts of the body to the spinal cord and brain. Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is a condition in which the nerves are affected, compromising the relay of information from different parts of the body. ...

... Continuing screening in asylum-seekers from "high case" countries is likely to increase efficiency and appears to be "a good bet", but discontinuing screening in the other group would come with considerable uncertainty. This uncertainty could be reduced, for example by pooling data across regions and countries with comparable screening protocols [12], and/or by using external ( prior) information, e.g. from WHO prevalence data or clinical assessments [13] in order to obtain better estimates of country-specific risk. Uncertainty aside, the current practice of (indiscriminate) screening for TB in the heterogeneous group of asylum-seekers appears to have potential for optimising efficiency. ...

... A community-engaged research approach involves community members who actively participate in generating ideas, contribute to decision-making, and share responsibility in the design and execution of a culturally appropriate program [12,19]. Eritrean migrants with a maximum duration of stay in the Netherlands of 10 years were eligible for this study, as we expect this group to be at highest risk for TB compared to those who migrated more than 10 years ago [1,2,20]. We approached Public Health Services (PHS)which is responsible for TB care and prevention activitieswith large Eritrean communities in their region (seven PHS out of 25), of whom five agreed to participate in this study. ...

... A large proportion of individuals with chronic HCV infection are asymptomatic and undiagnosed, making it difficult to estimate the true disease burden in the migrant population. Approximately 80% of migrants from outside the EU/EAA originate from HCV-endemic countries; in this subgroup, the prevalence of chronic HCV infection is likely similar to that of the country of origin (29). Migrants from HCV-endemic countries contribute disproportionately to HCV cases (14%) in the EU/EEA and account for up to half of those living with chronic HCV in some low-HCV-prevalence EU/EEA countries (30). ...