Work-Related Tuberculosis among Health Workers Employed in a Tertiary Hospital in Northeastern Thailand: A Report of Nine Cases

Thanthun Sangphoo, Naesinee Chaiear and Patimaporn Chanpho
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Thanthun Sangphoo: Division of Occupational Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Naesinee Chaiear: Division of Occupational Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Patimaporn Chanpho: Occupational Health and Safety Office, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-8

Abstract: Between October 2016 and September 2018, fifteen health workers were diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) at a tertiary hospital in northeastern Thailand. However, the cases could not be diagnosed as occupational TB according to international standards because of hospital limitations. The use of occupational epidemiological information provides a more effective work-related TB diagnosis. This study aims to provide a report of work-related TB using individual case investigation methods. We collected secondary data from the Occupational Health and Safety Office of the hospital in question, including baseline characteristics for the health workers, occupational history, source of TB infection and occupational exposure, and working environmental measurements. We found that nine of the fifteen cases were diagnosable as work-related TB due to two important factors: daily prolonged exposure time to an infected TB patient, and aerosol-generating procedures without adequate respiratory protection. The other six cases were not diagnosable as work-related TB because of inadequate evidence of activities related to the TB infection. The diagnosis of work-related TB thus requires occupational epidemiological information in order to complete the differentiation process.

Keywords: tuberculosis; work-related TB; health workers; prolonged exposure; aerosol-generating procedure; respiratory protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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