Abstract: Objective To investigate the epidemiology of school tuberculosis in Shenzhen,so as to provide scientific evidence for improving the prevention and control strategy of school tuberculosis. Methods Data of school tuberculosis cases in 2014 was gathered from China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention and Shenzhen weekly monitoring reports for school tuberculosis,which was used for the analysis of epidemiology and morbidity of school tuberculosis in Shenzhen. Results Totally,234 school tuberculosis patients were diagnosed during 2014 and enrolled in this study,including 202 cases of students which accounted for about 86.3%.The positive rate of sputum in students(about 34.7%) was lower than that in the faculty members(about 56.3%),with χ2=5.491 and P=0.019.Detailed data of 5.1%(12/234) patients were not obtainable,and 21.8%(44/202) student patients came from other city.The students were mainly infected during the period of school,and less infected during the winter and summer holidays or during the holidays after the college entrance examination. The faculty members were mainly infected during the latter half of the year,accounting for about 68.8% (22/32).The reported incidences of pulmonary tuberculosis in students and teachers were about 7.7/100 000 and 20.4/100 000,which was much lower than the reported incidence in whole population (about 46.6/100 000). Conclusion Although the epidemic level of tuberculosis in Shenzhen city is low,the prevention and control strategy should be strengthened,especially in surveillance and case reporting.Furthermore,the national coordination mechanism and full-coverage comprehensive strategy on the prevention and control of school tuberculosis should be established to avoid its unexpected outbreaks in schools.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/epidemiology, Distribution, Incidence, Prevention and control