Doctors and nurses need greater protection from tuberculosis at work.
A study by Aurum Institute researcher Dr Kerrigan McCarthy‚ published on Monday in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease‚ concluded that all health workers in hospitals need to better adhere to guidelines on how to prevent TB transmission.
The study adds to the existing body of knowledge that if you are a doctor or nurse‚ you have a much greater risk of getting TB than other South Africans.
McCarthy said nurses and doctors have to be screened for TB regularly.
She used skin tests on nurses and medical students in Johannesburg and found the level of latent TB infection to be extraordinarily high. Latent TB is not active tuberculosis‚ but a dormant infection that happens before a person gets actively ill.
A significant proportion of South Africans have latent TB‚ but only between 5% and 10% of people with latent TB will develop the full-blown disease.
A measure of latent TB in health workers may be a proxy for their exposure to TB at work‚ which is why it is used in studies to measure people’s exposure to the disease.
Doctors who actively treated TB patients had higher rates of latent TB.
A study published this year by the head of the Division of Pulmonology at University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur‚ Professor Keertan Dheda‚ showed that health workers in the Western Cape were 3.5 times more likely to develop latent TB than other people in the same community.
“This is likely to reflect the increased risk due to occupational exposure to TB‚” read the study.
Dheda said not enough was being done to protect health workers from TB.
“There are national occupational health guidelines and World Health Organisation guidelines on reducing occupational TB infection‚ and these are not being adequately enforced.”
British doctor Helen Rose Casey‚ who is doing a masters in infection control to prevent TB transmission in Western Cape emergency centres‚ said: “All doctors I have spoken to [in South Africa] know of a colleague who has had active TB. This indicates they are being exposed at work‚ as the disease is not common among their friends and family.”
Health spokesman Joe Maila said: “We have also been concerned about the number of health workers contracting TB. While it is difficult to precisely say where and how they contract TB‚ we are in the process of strengthening infection control in all health facilities.
“We have asked health workers to screen patients for symptoms of TB routinely and are urging managers to ensure that health workers are screened regularly.”
Hospitals need to adhere to guidelines on preventing TB transmission
Doctors and nurses need greater protection from tuberculosis at work.
A study by Aurum Institute researcher Dr Kerrigan McCarthy‚ published on Monday in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease‚ concluded that all health workers in hospitals need to better adhere to guidelines on how to prevent TB transmission.
The study adds to the existing body of knowledge that if you are a doctor or nurse‚ you have a much greater risk of getting TB than other South Africans.
McCarthy said nurses and doctors have to be screened for TB regularly.
She used skin tests on nurses and medical students in Johannesburg and found the level of latent TB infection to be extraordinarily high. Latent TB is not active tuberculosis‚ but a dormant infection that happens before a person gets actively ill.
A significant proportion of South Africans have latent TB‚ but only between 5% and 10% of people with latent TB will develop the full-blown disease.
A measure of latent TB in health workers may be a proxy for their exposure to TB at work‚ which is why it is used in studies to measure people’s exposure to the disease.
Doctors who actively treated TB patients had higher rates of latent TB.
A study published this year by the head of the Division of Pulmonology at University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur‚ Professor Keertan Dheda‚ showed that health workers in the Western Cape were 3.5 times more likely to develop latent TB than other people in the same community.
“This is likely to reflect the increased risk due to occupational exposure to TB‚” read the study.
Dheda said not enough was being done to protect health workers from TB.
“There are national occupational health guidelines and World Health Organisation guidelines on reducing occupational TB infection‚ and these are not being adequately enforced.”
British doctor Helen Rose Casey‚ who is doing a masters in infection control to prevent TB transmission in Western Cape emergency centres‚ said: “All doctors I have spoken to [in South Africa] know of a colleague who has had active TB. This indicates they are being exposed at work‚ as the disease is not common among their friends and family.”
Health spokesman Joe Maila said: “We have also been concerned about the number of health workers contracting TB. While it is difficult to precisely say where and how they contract TB‚ we are in the process of strengthening infection control in all health facilities.
“We have asked health workers to screen patients for symptoms of TB routinely and are urging managers to ensure that health workers are screened regularly.”
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