OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of tuberculous
infection and the annual risk of tuberculous infection
(ARTI) for 2007–2009 in Bangladesh, approximately
45 years after the first tuberculin survey in 1964–1966.
METHODS: A tuberculin survey was conducted along
with the National Tuberculosis Disease Prevalence Survey
in 2007–2009. This was a multistaged communitybased,
cross-sectional survey, including 17 718 children
aged 5–14 years. The prevalence of tuberculous infection
was estimated using the mixture method and a cutoff
point of ⩾8 mm.
RESULTS: The prevalence of infection was 10.0% (interquartile
range [IQR] 8.6–12.2) in children aged 5–9 years
and 17.9% (IQR 15.4–20.2) in those aged 10–14 years
using the mixture analysis. Prevalence was 12.4% (95%
confidence interval [CI] 11.7–13.1) in children aged 5–
9 years and 22.6% (95%CI 21.6–23.4) in those aged
10–14 years using a cut-off point of ⩾8 mm. The estimated
ARTI was respectively 1.5% and 1.7% in 5–9 and
10–14 year olds using the mixture method and respectively
1.9% and 2.1% using the cut-off method.
CONCLUSIONS: The moderate reduction in the prevalence
of infection and slow decline of the ARTI after
two decades of DOTS implementation indicates considerable
ongoing transmission.