DETEC-TB

DETEC-TB reframes tuberculosis detection around networks rather than symptoms alone. A person diagnosed with TB is connected to household and other close contacts who may have infection or disease before they recognize symptoms. If those contacts can be identified, assessed and linked to the appropriate next step, programmes can move part of TB control earlier in the natural history of infection.

The study is organized around contact investigation and active case finding in Tanzania. Instead of waiting for people to present late to facilities, DETEC-TB asks how index cases and their contacts can become a structured pathway into screening, testing, preventive treatment or treatment for active disease. The pathway is designed to make each transition visible rather than counting contact identification as the endpoint.

That focus turns TB detection into an implementation problem as well as a diagnostic one. Contacts have to be reached, they need to understand why assessment matters, diagnostic services must be available and results must connect to the right care. DETEC-TB therefore studies both the clinical logic of early detection and the practical losses that occur between stages. Its contribution is to show where a contact-focused strategy can bring care earlier and where continuity must be strengthened for active case finding to produce real benefit.