RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access c

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground In 2010, the estimated incidence of all forms of tuberculosis (TB) in Vietnam was 199/100,000 population, and the esti-mated case detection rate of all forms of TB was 54 % [1]. The Vietnam National Tuberculosis Control Programme (NTP) is based on the principles of DOTS and the STOP TB strategy, the core control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) [2]. In 2006–2007, the Vietnam NTP carried out a com-bined TB prevalence and tuberculin survey. The survey found a prevalence of smear-positive tuberculosis of 145 / 100,000 (95 % CI: 110–180) [3]. This number was 1.6 times higher than the 2006 estimate (89/100,000). Thus, the burden of tuberculosis in Vietnam is consider-ably greater than previously assumed. A significant num-ber of tuberculosis cases remain undiagnosed and present a potential source of transmission in the com-munity [3]. * Correspondence