B. Pleszewski et Jm. Fitzgerald, TUBERCULOSIS AMONG HEALTH-CARE WORKERS IN BRITISH-COLUMBIA, The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease, 2(11), 1998, pp. 898-903
OBJECTIVES: TO compare the clinical features and prevalence of active
TB in British Columbia (BC) health-care workers (HCWs) with those of t
he general population, between 1991 and 1996. METHODS: Comparison of 2
5 HCWs and 50 controls randomly selected from the Centres for Disease
Control registry, with respect to demographics, prevention, diagnosis
and management. RESULTS: HCWs had fewer related risk factors, but more
had initiated prior chemoprophylaxis (16% vs. 0%, P < 0.01) and knew
their bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) (68% vs. 24%, P < 0.001) and purif
ied protein derivative (PPD) status (60% vs 32%, P < 0.05). There were
no differences in symptom duration (3.3 +/- 3.6 vs. 3.0 +/- 3.4 month
s), mycobacteriology and diagnostic features, treatment duration (264.
9 +/- 63.9 vs. 239.0 +/- 78.7 days) and completion rates (84% for both
). All HCWs used self-administered treatment (100% vs. 70%, P < 0.01),
and fewer were hospitalized (8% vs. 28%, P < 0.05). Disease rates in
nurses (3.6 +/- 4.4 per 100 000) were lower than the general populatio
n rates (9.0 +/- 0.8), but did not differ among physiotherapists (8.96
+/- 21.95), general practitioners (7.60 +/- 11.78) and medical reside
nts (30.75 +/- 75.32). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical features were similar in
HCWs, but management strategies differed. BC HCWs are not at increased
risk of tuberculosis, but the small sample size limited the power of
our study to detect such an increase.