Texas Administrative Code
Title 25 - HEALTH SERVICES
Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
Chapter 97 - COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Subchapter H - TUBERCULOSIS SCREENING FOR JAILS AND OTHER CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
Section 97.176 - Treatment

(1) Treatment of latent TB infection is the administration of medicine to which a person's infecting organism is presumed to be susceptible. Treatment of latent TB infection substantially reduces the risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB) in infected persons.

(2) All persons who have latent TB infection with no symptoms suggestive of TB disease or radiographic findings suggestive of TB disease shall be considered for treatment of latent TB infection in accordance with current recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and of the department.

(1) When symptoms and/or results of skin test, chest x-ray, and sputum smear suggest active tuberculosis (TB), the suspect shall be placed on a TB treatment regimen consisting of four drugs until TB has been ruled out, unless another regimen is indicated due to contraindications to one or more of the preferred drugs.

(2) Clinical response to treatment shall be monitored, since the development of drug resistance can be a problem. Persons with clinically active disease shall be monitored bacteriologically through the collection of at least one sputum sample taken monthly until conversion to negative is confirmed by all cultures being negative in two consecutive months. Persistence or reappearance of organisms in the sputum smear shall create a high index of suspicion for drug-resistant disease or noncompliance with therapy. When this occurs, evaluate compliance and perform drug susceptibility tests, in addition to those obtained from the initial positive cultures. The inmate shall also be evaluated for possible reintroduction of isolation.

(3) Treatment of TB shall be in accordance with current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/American Thoracic Society (ATS)/Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recommendations and the recommendations of the department.