Queensland Tuberculosis Control Program (QTCP)

• Home
  • Functions of the QTCP
• Tuberculosis (TB) patients
  • Tuberculosis (TB) information
  • Risk of TB in Queensland
  • Reducing the spread of TB
• Diagnosis of TB
  • Step 1: Make an appointment for TB tests
  • Step 2: Review test results
  • Step 3: Confirm diagnosis and treatment
  • Step 4: Start treatment and ongoing monitoring
• Other mycobacterial diseases
• Health Professionals
  • TB prevention
  • TB screening programs
  • BCG vaccination
  • Managing TB patients
  • Clinical guidelines for treating TB
  • TB nursing management
  • TB infection control guidelines
  • TB treatment programs
  • Information on NTM and leprosy
  • TB surveillance
  • Mycobacterial research
  • TB resources
  • TB related forms
  • TB related links
  • TB training, education and employment
  • National Nurses TB Newsletter
• Quality Improvement
  • QTBCP committees
• Make an appointment
• Contact Us

TB prevention

Reducing the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in Queensland is a primary focus of the Queensland Tuberculosis Control Program (QTCP). The best way to prevent the spread of the disease is prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of each TB case.

Every patient diagnosed or suspected of tuberculosis must be notified immediately to the Queensland Tuberculosis Control Centre (QTBCC) to ensure they:

• are clinically managed
• tested for HIV
• complete an adequate course of treatment
• have follow-up post treatment.

All patients have access to free medical care and treatment for TB in Queensland.

Prevention strategies

To maximise health outcomes, the QTCP has a range of prevention strategies to address TB including:

• screening at-risk groups for TB infection or disease
  (including contacts of infectious TB cases, immigrants who have signed health undertakings, people from Indigenous communities, migrants/refugees from countries where TB is prevalent and health care workers)
• providing BCG vaccinations to at-risk adults, babies and children across Queensland to lessen the chance of developing TB disease and preventing serious complications in young children
• providing preventative medication (chemoprophylaxis) to people infected with TB bacteria but who do not have active TB disease
• early diagnosis and effective treatment of people with active TB disease (chemotherapy) to reduce further infection in the community (including isolation of active cases if necessary).

Stop TB: a global eradication campaign

The ultimate goal is to eradicate TB world wide, however this is not possible without a range of effective global health strategies. The Stop TB Partnership, established in 1998, aims to eliminate TB as a public health problem and, ultimately, to obtain a world free of TB. It comprises a network of international organisations, countries, donors from the public and private sectors, governmental and nongovernmental organizations and individuals that have expressed an interest in working together to achieve this goal. The QTCP is part of this network.