Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:40:03.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Screening of Hospital Workers for Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Medical Center in Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Fu-Der Wang
Affiliation:
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Infection Control Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Chi-Hwar Chang
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Wei-Juin Su
Affiliation:
Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Jen-Fu Shih
Affiliation:
Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Kuang-Ming Hsiao
Affiliation:
Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Ming-Sheng Chern
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Te-Li Chen
Affiliation:
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Infection Control Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Ming-Yin Lin
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Yin-Yin Chen
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Chen-Hsen Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Service, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
*
Department of Emergency Service, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei, Taiwan (chlee@vghtpe.gov.tw)

Abstract

At a medical center in Taiwan, all workers were examined by chest radiography, to determine the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis. The prevalence of tuberculosis among all hospital workers was 0.12%, that among nurses was 0.35%, and that among externally contracted cleaners was 0.57%. All of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates recovered from 2 nurses and from a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis were the Beijing strain, but the strains had different serotypes.

Type
Concise Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Jaung, JJ, Sheu, ML. TB policy and related issues in Taiwan: organizational developments and notification policy changes. Taiwan J Public Health 2004; 23:292296.Google Scholar
2.Jelip, J, Mathew, GG, Yusin, T, et al. Risk factors of tuberculosis among health care workers in Sabah, Malaysia. Tuberculosis 2004; 84:1923.Google Scholar
3.King, L. Minimizing the risk of hospital transmission of pulmonary TB. Nurs Stand 2001; 16:4552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Expanded tuberculosis surveillance and tuberculosis morbidity—United States, 1993. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1994; 43:361366.Google Scholar
5.Hosoglu, S, Tanrikulu, AC, Dagli, C, Akalin, S. Tuberculosis among health care workers in a short working period. Am J Infect Control 2005; 33:2326.Google Scholar
6.Chou, MY, Sun, CC, Yeh, PF, et al. Nosocomial transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis found through screening for severe acute respiratory syndrome—Taipei, Taiwan, 2003. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2004; 53:321322.Google Scholar
7.Yang, DY, Chou, PS, Hung, DZ, Chang, WD, Hu, WH, Wang, YS. A study of the risk of tuberculosis in nurses working at the emergency department of a medical center. J Taiwan Emerg Med 2002; 4:7181.Google Scholar
8.Kilinc, O, Ucan, ES, Cakan, MDA, et al. Risk of tuberculosis among healthcare workers: can tuberculosis be considered as an occupational disease?. Respir Med 2002; 96:506510.Google Scholar
9.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in health-care facilities, 1994. MMWR Recomm Rep 1994; 43(RR-13):1132.Google Scholar
10.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Essential components of a tuberculosis prevention and control program: recommendations of the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis. MMWR Recomm Rep 1995;44(RR-11):116.Google Scholar