Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers in tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan

Latent Tuberculosis in Healthcare workers

  • Rabia Sadaf
  • Tehmina Munir
  • Sheroze Farrukh
  • Saleem Abbasi Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad
Keywords: Healthcare workers, IGRA test, Latent TB infection, Tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in healthcare workers in tertiary care hospitals of Rawalpindi, using interferon gamma release assay.

Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. The samples were collected from pulmonology and microbiology departments of three hospitals; i) Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, ii) Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi and iii) Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. The study was completed in one year from January 2017 to January 2018. Fifty-five asymptomatic healthcare workers of both genders between the ages of 18-50 years with a working tenure of at least one year in concerned departments were included and those with active tuberculosis were excluded from the study. Whole blood from subjects was collected and plasma was checked for interferon gamma value by IGRA(Interferon gamma release assay).

Results: In this study of total 55 healthcare workers a high prevalence 22 (40.0%) of latent tuberculosis was found. When LTBI distribution was analyzed within occupational categories, the most frequently affected were sanitary workers 3 (100.0%), nurses 5 (50.0%), doctors 6 (43%) and nursing assistants 2 (40%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of LTBI in healthcare workers is alarmingly high in our local healthcare settings.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.936

How to cite this:
Sadaf R, Munir T, Farrukh S, Abbasi S. Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers in tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(2):198-202. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.936

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author Biographies

Rabia Sadaf

Postgraduate Trainee, Department of Microbiology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi

Tehmina Munir

Professor of Microbiology Department, Hitech IMS, Taxila

Sheroze Farrukh

M.phil, Microbiology, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi

Published
2019-12-16
How to Cite
Sadaf, R., Munir, T., Farrukh, S., & Abbasi, S. (2019). Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers in tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan: Latent Tuberculosis in Healthcare workers. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.936