Assessing the Relative Importance of the Components of an Occupational Tuberculosis Control Program

Hospital-based occupational tuberculosis control programs have four basic components: rapid detection of disease in presenting patients; use of environmental controls, including personal respiratory protection; periodic tuberculin skin testing; and administration of prophylactic antibiotic therapy t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 1998-07, Vol.40 (7), p.648-654
Main Author: Nicas, Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Incidence
Infection Control - methods
Infection Control - organization & administration
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Occupational diseases
Occupational Diseases - epidemiology
Occupational Diseases - prevention & control
Occupational hazards
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Program Evaluation
Risk Factors
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial infections
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - epidemiology
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - prevention & control
United States - epidemiology
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Description
Summary:Hospital-based occupational tuberculosis control programs have four basic components: rapid detection of disease in presenting patients; use of environmental controls, including personal respiratory protection; periodic tuberculin skin testing; and administration of prophylactic antibiotic therapy to newly infected employees. This article assesses which component is the most important in reducing disease nsk among health care workers. A quantitative framework for estimating disease nsk is developed, and two important results are described. First, the rapid identification of disease in presenting patients is the most important element in the overall program. Second, once disease has been identified, the use of highly efficient environmental controls (which include respiratory protection) becomes the most important element; these controls are especially important for procedures such as bronchoscopy and autopsy, which can aerosolize large numbers of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli.
ISSN:1076-2752
1536-5948
DOI:10.1097/00043764-199807000-00011