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Screening for Tuberculosis in Health Care Workers: Experience in an Italian Teaching Hospital
Joint Authors
Napoli, Christian
Ferretti, Filippo
Di Ninno, Filippo
Orioli, Riccardo
Marani, Alessandra
Sarlo, Maria Giuditta
Prestigiacomo, Claudio
De Luca, Assunta
Orsi, Giovanni Battista
Source
Issue
Vol. 2017, Issue 2017 (31 Dec. 2017), pp.1-6, 6 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2017-02-27
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
6
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Health care workers (HCW) are particularly at risk of acquiring tuberculosis (TB), even in countries with low TB incidence.
Therefore, TB screening in HCW is a useful prevention strategy in countries with both low and high TB incidence.
Tuberculin skin test (TST) is widely used although it suffers of low specificity; on the contrary, the in vitro enzyme immunoassay tests (IGRA) show superior specificity and sensitivity but are more expensive.
The present study reports the results of a three-year TB surveillance among HCW in a large teaching hospital in Rome, using TST (by standard Mantoux technique) and IGRA (by QuantiFERON-TB) as first- and second-level screening tests, respectively.
Out of 2290 HCW enrolled, 141 (6.1%) had a positive TST; among them, 99 (70.2%) underwent the IGRA and 16 tested positive (16.1%).
The frequency of HCW tested positive for TB seems not far from other experiences in low incidence countries.
Our results confirm the higher specificity of IGRA, but, due to its higher cost, TST can be considered a good first level screening test, whose positive results should be further confirmed by IGRA before the patients undergo X-ray diagnosis and/or chemotherapy.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Napoli, Christian& Ferretti, Filippo& Di Ninno, Filippo& Orioli, Riccardo& Marani, Alessandra& Sarlo, Maria Giuditta…[et al.]. 2017. Screening for Tuberculosis in Health Care Workers: Experience in an Italian Teaching Hospital. BioMed Research International،Vol. 2017, no. 2017, pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1138657
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Napoli, Christian…[et al.]. Screening for Tuberculosis in Health Care Workers: Experience in an Italian Teaching Hospital. BioMed Research International No. 2017 (2017), pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1138657
American Medical Association (AMA)
Napoli, Christian& Ferretti, Filippo& Di Ninno, Filippo& Orioli, Riccardo& Marani, Alessandra& Sarlo, Maria Giuditta…[et al.]. Screening for Tuberculosis in Health Care Workers: Experience in an Italian Teaching Hospital. BioMed Research International. 2017. Vol. 2017, no. 2017, pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1138657
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1138657