Abstract: The infection and incidence rates of tuberculosis (TB) are high in TB patient close contacts. Investigation of close contacts could facilitate the timely finding of new patient and stop the spread of IMycobacterium tuberculosis. /I However, the implementation of TB patient close contact investigation in China was still at the initial stage and less study had been conducted on it. This paper summaries the methods of TB patients contact investigation and the detection rate of new patients in selected countries and regions in recent years, and discusses the factors to pull down the detection of TB in close contacts and the measures to reduce the infection in close contacts and the feasibility of screening of close contacts in China.