Messages for Testing_Provider

PROVIDER MESSAGE STATEMENTS

*Category: Awareness / Knowledge / Importance – What You Should Know

Testing Element(s): Understanding of TB; most compelling or critical messages (using rating scale)

1. Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important preventable disease in the United States. It is a contagious airborne disease and can be deadly.

2. Ending TB in the United States requires maintaining and strengthening current TB control priorities while increasing efforts to identify and treat latent TB infection among high-risk populations.

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are 13 million people in the United States who have latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) but don’t know it.

4. Mycobacterium tuberculosis can live in the body for decades without signs or symptoms, but can become active without notice.

5. For patients who test positive for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), shorter and more convenient treatments are now available that may improve the likelihood of treatment adherence.

*Category: Relevance to You & Your Patients – Why You Should Care

Testing Element(s): Most compelling or critical messages (using rating scale)

1. Many patients do not know they are at risk for tuberculosis (TB) or believe they are no longer at risk because of a prior TB vaccination.

   1. The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is not widely used in the United States, but it is often given to infants and small children in other countries where TB is common to protect them against TB. This protection weakens over time.

2. TB disease in the United States is most common among people born in countries where TB disease is more common.

   1. More than 9 in 10 tuberculosis (TB) cases among non-U.S.-born persons in the United States are due to activation of long-standing latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI).

3. Because latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) can become active and contagious without notice, patients can become very sick and may unknowingly pass it to others, including friends, family or health care workers.

   1. Without treatment, 1 in 10 people with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) will get sick in the future.

4. Patients in at-risk groups may be hesitant to get tested for tuberculosis (TB) due to stigma and potential discrimination.

5. You can reduce the transmission, morbidity, and mortality of tuberculosis (TB) by identifying latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and preventing its progression to active disease through diagnosis and treatment.

*Category: Call to Action – What You Should Do

Testing Element(s): Need to specify blood test within CTA; Most compelling or critical CTA (using rating scale); other compelling message elements

1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends you use a blood test to test patients born in [China/Guatemala/India/Mexico/the Philippines/Vietnam] for tuberculosis (TB), even if they have no symptoms of TB.

2. Test your patients born in [China/Guatemala/India/Mexico/the Philippines/Vietnam] for tuberculosis (TB).

3. Because the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine weakens over time, even those who were vaccinated are at risk for tuberculosis (TB).

4. Test your at-risk patients for tuberculosis (TB) and ensure they complete the full course of treatment if they test positive.

*Category: Treatment – What You Should Do If Your Patient Has LTBI

Testing Element(s): Most critical messages (using rating scale)

1. Treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) should start after excluding the possibility of tuberculosis (TB) disease.

2. Patients who test positive for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) should be treated to prevent them from developing tuberculosis (TB) disease.

3. There are several treatment regimens for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Healthcare providers should prescribe shorter, more convenient regimens, when possible, to increase the likelihood of patients completing the full course of treatment.