Yield of systematic household contact investigation for tuberculosis in a high-burden metropolitan district of South Africa.

The high yield of new TB observed in this pilot study demonstrates that targeted SHCI may be an effective ACF strategy in Mangaung and similar high-burden settings in South Africa. Targeting different index case categories produced variable yield - the highest among contacts of HIV-negative TB index cases. SHCI among household contacts of all four the WHO-recommended categories of infectious TB index cases - and male and coughing contacts, in particular - should be maximised.