PHWR Public Health Weekly Report

Objectives: This study examines the operational framework and performance of the latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) screening and treatment program conducted among conscription candidates in collaboration with the Military Manpower Administration and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency from 2017 to 2025 and assesses its implications for national tuberculosis (TB) prevention policy.
Methods: Conscription candidates who consented to screening underwent an interferon-gamma release assays. Individuals with a history of TB treatment or prior LTBI positivity were excluded through administrative data linkage. Positive cases were linked to the national TB management system through the government’s administrative information-sharing platform and referred to public health centers or designated medical institutions for treatment. Descriptive methods were used to analyze screening results, treatment linkage, and treatment initiation status from 2017 to 2025.
Results: Among 2,493,162 individuals screened, 41,185 tested positive, yielding an overall positivity rate of 1.7%. The positivity rate declined from 2.9% in 2017 to 0.8% in 2025. The treatment initiation rate among positive cases was 49.7%, with a median time of 28 days to initiation. Concurrently, the incidence and notification rates of TB among individuals in their twenties declined in 2024 to approximately one-sixth of the levels reported in 2015.
Conclusions: This program demonstrates a systematic approach to large-scale LTBI screening and treatment linkage for young adults presenting a national TB prevention model based on interministerial collaboration. This operational experience has important implications for the development of future policies for the control of TB and other infectious diseases.

Objectives: The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency operates a mobile tuberculosis ( TB) screening program targeting adults aged 65 years and older who are vulnerable to TB and have limited access to healthcare for the early detection and prevention of community transmission. This study analyzed the outcomes of the program conducted in 2023–2024 to determine directions for future implementation.
Methods: For greater accessibility, TB screening was conducted in locations where the target population resided. The screening process consisted of a prescreening questionnaire and chest X-ray examination, with follow-up sputum testing for individuals with TB-related symptoms (cough lasting ≥2 weeks) and for those with abnormal chest X-ray findings.
Results: A total of 373,080 individuals were screened during 2023–2024, and 259 TB cases were identified through early detection, corresponding to 69.4 cases per 100,000 screenings. Characteristics significantly associated with TB diagnosis included male sex, advanced age, prolonged cough (≥2 weeks), a history of previous TB, and abnormal chest X-ray findings (p≤ 0.001). Notably, 79.9% of confirmed TB cases reported no cough lasting ≥2 weeks, and 62.9% were initially classified as having inactive TB based on chest X-ray findings but were subsequently confirmed by sputum examination as having active TB.
Conclusions: The mobile TB screening program enhances early case detection by expanding sputum testing to include individuals classified as having inactive TB by chest X-ray, thereby proactively identifying a broader range of TB cases than the national TB screening program.