Risk of tuberculosis infection among health care workers

Medellín, Colombia, 2001-2002

Abstract

Aim: to establish the frequency of tuberculosis infection within health care workers compared to nonhealth care workers. Dr. Carlos Alberto Betancur Jiménez:

Design: a cross sectional study that compares a group of nurses who has been in contact with Profesor Titular de Medicina Interna, Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud C. E. S.; patients with tuberculosis vs a group of non-exposed workers.

Setting: nurses from the emergency department and internal medicine service of Hospital General de Medellin and workers from an ink factory (Tintas S. A. )

Participants: tuberculin skin test was performed to nurses of internal medicine and emergency departments n=45 and workers of the ink factory n=54. All signed an informed consent.

Intervention: using Mantoux technique and APLISOL® 5TU skin test an induration ≥ 10mm was considered positive. The results were correlated with previous BCG vaccination and the health care exposed time within the facility.

Results: 51, 1% of the 45 nurses and 16, 7% of the nonexposed workers who were tested were positive to the tuberculin skin test which means that the risk of being infected with tuberculosis is 3, 15 greater within the exposed group than the non-exposed group, p= <0, 001. There was no relation between the exposure time and previous BCG vaccination with these results.

Conclusions: the health care workers who are exposed to patients with tuberculosis have a greater risk 3, 15 of being infected compared to the general population. These results highlight the importance to improve the infection control measures within the health care facilities and perform the tuberculin skin testing to establish the tuberculosis infection among the health care workers