Anand Janagond|Vithiya Ganesan|Gyanendra Kumar|Ramesh Arunagiri|Prem Anand|Martin Mariappan
Screening of health-care workers for latent tuberculosis infection in a Tertiary Care Hospital
Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute|Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute|Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute|Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute|Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute|Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute
healthcare workers hcws increased risk acquiring tuberculosis tb general population nationallevel data burden tb general population available reliable sources nationally representative data latent tuberculosis infection ltbi burden hcws high burden countries lackinga prospective study carried assess risk tb infection among hcws directly engage medical duties hcws recruited january 2014 december 2015 structured questionnaire used risk assessment tb infection among hcws including sociodemographic characteristics eg age gender period professional work employed position knowledge tb prevention control history professional work singlestep tuberculin skin test tst using 5 international units iu 01 ml tuberculin purified protein derivative mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmettegurin bcg tb infection determined using tst induration 10 mm cutoff point tst positivity tstpositive participants subjected detailed clinical evaluation chest radiography rule active tb associations tb infection sociodemographic characteristics duration possible exposure tb medical duties bcg vaccination knowledge tb estimated using chisquare test twosided p 005 indicated statistical significancea total 206 eligible hcws signed informed consent completed questionnaires january 2014 december 2015 age participants ranged 18 71 years mean age 2713 years tst induration size mean 637 mm tst results suggested 368 76206 infected tb using tst induration 10 mm cutoff point 76 tstpositive hcws showed evidence active tb clinical evaluation chest radiography however study two hcws developed pulmonary tb tst baseline test negative statistical analysis suggested age duration employment healthcare professional literacy status working medical wardsopintensive care unit significantly associated tb infectionmany studies propose serial tests ltbi effective occupational protection strategies however practically feasible done frequent intervals frequently done clear another concern even found ltbi clear consensus guidelines treatment high prevalence settings prevalence ltbi high countries like india affected hcws could exempted working highrisk areas depth knowledge tb prevention control among hcws improved regular infection control training