Abstract

Background: At present of the limitation of the current case finding strategies and the global urgency to improve tuberculosis (TB) case finding, a renewed interest in active case finding (ACF) has risen. Active and enhanced case finding (ACF and ECF) require a special effort by the health care system to increase the detection of TB in a given population. These strategies identify and bring into treatment people with TB who have not sought diagnostic services on their own initiative. Because of the limitation of the passive case finding strategies, we aimed to evaluated Active Case Finding strategy for TB among the high risk population in Amravati district and compare it with passive case finding. Methods: A house-to-house survey was conducted from 12thNovember 2018 to 24th November 2018 by trained health workers and community volunteers. TB amongst the high risk groups of rural Amravati district.Individuals with TB symptoms were identified through targeted screening using a standardized questionnaire and investigated further for TB.b During study period 3,03,558 of individuals were screened for TB, 1782 (11.44%) were identified as TB suspects; all suspects were evaluated for TB. TB was diagnosed in 42 individuals, representing (5.24%) of those evaluated for TB as suspected cases. Of the 42 detected cases, 27cases had new smear-positive TB, 14 were X-ray positive and 1 was extra pulmonary. Conclusion: ACF could supplement current strategies to yield additional TB cases, lead to early diagnosis and better treatment.

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