Suspected tuberculosis at a refugee center: 79 referred cases in 2 years at St. Loup Hospital]

The recent opening, close to the hospital of Saint-Loup, of an application centre for foreigners who ask for a status of refugee in Switzerland gave us the opportunity, over the last two years, to evaluate 79 patients with suspected tuberculosis. Of them 67% came from sub-Saharan Africa and 25% from Eastern Europe. A bacillary tuberculosis was found in 19 cases (24%), requiring immediate treatment and a respiratory isolation of a mean duration of 18 days. In addition, 11 cases (14%) had non-bacillary tuberculosis with negative sputum smear but positive culture. This new situation led us to implement a specific strategy of hospital hygiene.