Irene Bellini, Antonino Nastasi and Sara Boccalini
Background: A specific vaccination programme for foreign new-borns with BCG, implemented in Prato (Tuscany, Italy), showed a reduction of TB specific hospitalisations.
A further analysis was conducted to investigate the TB hospitalisation rate specific for nationality in Tuscany.
Methods: A database containing all TB related hospitalisations in Tuscany during 2007-2014 was considered and stratified for year and for nationality. The annual number of foreign inhabitants for each nationality living in Tuscany was available online. The annual hospitalisation ratio/100,000 specific for nationality was then calculated and compared with WHO incidence rate of each native country.
Results: Average hospitalisation rate for the whole period was higher among immigrants from Albania, India, Senegal, Brazil and Russian federation and living in Tuscany than the average TB incidence rate of the native country. Instead among immigrants coming from Peru, Bangladesh and Philippines, it was lower. It was always higher in each foreign nationality than the overall incidence in Tuscany.
Discussion and conclusion: Unhealthy living and working conditions among some immigrants in Tuscany could increase the probability to become symptomatic from a condition of latent disease acquired in native countries. Besides overcrowding could facilitate transmission. In other cases rates are equal or lower than in the native countries but still higher than those of Tuscany population. Therefore, the enlargement of the BCG vaccination coverage for foreigners on the whole regional area could be now an actual and urgent issue in order to prevent new cases of TB.