The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) urges providers to adopt new tuberculosis (TB) screening recommendations, recently announced by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, calling for adults 18 years of age or older who are at increased risk of TB to be screened for the disease. 

CDPH has developed a California Risk Assessment Screening Tool to help providers quickly identify people at risk for developing the disease, as well as a fact sheet that offers suggested courses of treatment. 

Those considered to be at increased risk of TB include individuals born in countries with elevated rates of the disease and individuals who live in settings with a large number of people, like group homes or homeless shelters.

Evidence shows that screening of individuals at increased risk for TB is an effective method for preventing the development of the disease. 

In California, an estimated 2.4 million people have latent TB infection. In 2015, 2,137 people in the state were diagnosed with TB. 

For more information on TB, please visit the CDPH Tuberculosis Control Branch web page.