Tuberculosis & Chest Service

Introduction

The Tuberculosis (TB) & Chest Service (The Service)

plays a key role in the prevention and control of

tuberculosis in Hong Kong. Its domain of activities covers

the surveillance of tuberculosis, case finding, supervised

chemotherapy, BCG vaccination for newborns and

aged under 15, health education and research. These

efforts have contributed to a general children decline of

notifications of tuberculosis in the past few decades.

The Service operates 18 chest clinics throughout the

territory, providing outpatient service to patients suffering

from tuberculosis and various chest diseases. Citizens

with symptoms suspicious of TB, like persistent cough for

3 to 4 weeks, blood in sputum, persistent fever, loss of

weight and night sweating, can attend any one of the

chest clinics for consultation. Free medical services are

provided to the Hong Kong citizens, including consultation,

treatment, laboratory tests, x-ray examination and BCG

vaccination. No referral is required. Great emphasis is

placed on the use of directly observed treatment (DOT)

for the control of TB.

The total attendance at chest clinics has increased from

990 513 in 2000 to 961 475 in 2001.

The common types of new cases seen in the year 2001

were acute/chronic bronchitis (21%), active pulmonary

tuberculosis (10.1%), inactive tuberculosis (10.2%), acute

respiratory infection (10.2%), pneumonia (5.6%), active

tuberculosis of other forms (2.2%) and malignant

neoplasm of trachea and bronchus (1.4%).

The coverage of BCG vaccination for newborn babies has

been persistently over 98% since 1980. Disseminated

forms of tuberculosis in infants and young children are

now relatively rare. The local BCG revaccination

programme for primary school children has been stopped

from the school year 2000/01 onwards, which is in

accordance with the WHO's updated statement and a

review of the local situation.

The Service is responsible for the surveillance of TB in

Hong Kong. It collects statistics on TB from notification

forms, death certificates, and other surveillance

programmes. Surveillance data are reported through

various means including its Annual Report, medical

bulletins, and the internet.

Various other important public health activities on TB

control are also carried out, including examination of close

contacts of TB patients, defaulter tracing, and health

education. Health talks are delivered to institutions like

elderly homes and schools. Health exhibitions on TB are

conducted in collaboration with the Hong Kong

Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association and

the Hospital Authority, like those on World TB Days, 24th

of March each year.

In addition, the Service also runs two X-ray survey

centers and a Pneumoconiosis Clinic. The

Pneumoconiosis Clinic performs compensation

assessment and offers other health care services for

pneumoconiotic patients. Research activities on TB and

other chest diseases are being conducted by the Service.

(Last updated in December 2002)