Notes from the Director

Dear Colleague:

Looking back over 2018, I would like to thank the staff of CDC’s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE) and our partners in public health for their collective efforts that led to another successful year in the fight to eliminate TB from the United States. A few highlights of our accomplishments and major activities of the year include the following:

Communications, Education and Behavioral Branch Updates

The Union

The Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE) staff, in collaboration with colleagues from the New York City Bureau of Tuberculosis Control, presented preliminary findings from the eDOT study at the 49th Union World Conference on Lung Health – The Hague, The Netherlands. During the conference’s Rapporteur Session, the TB Section highlighted the eDOT study to raise conference attendees’ awareness of these early findings.
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Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations Branch Updates

Tuberculosis Whole Genome Sequencing Training Modules

In 2018, the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBER) began universal whole-genome sequencing (WGS) (i.e., sequencing an M. tuberculosis isolate for each U.S. case of culture-confirmed TB). Increasingly, state and local TB programs are using the results of WGS and phylogenetic analyses to help guide TB cluster and outbreak investigations.
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Laboratory Branch Updates

New Microbiologists in the Laboratory Branch

The laboratory branch is excited to announce the addition of four new staff members.

On August 6, 2018, Scott Chancey, Ph.D. joined the Reference Laboratory Team (RLT). Scott will perform molecular testing for the Molecular Detection of Drug Resistance (MDDR) service.
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