Risk of Tuberculosis Infection in Health Care (Closed)

Dear Colleagues,

The WHO assumes that tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS) worldwide. Millions of people continue to fall sick with TB each year. About 1.7 billion people, 23% of the world's population, are estimated to have a latent TB infection, and are thus at risk of developing active TB disease during their lifetime. Tuberculosis has also made an impressive comeback in low-income countries. In Germany, for example, the number of tuberculosis patients increased by 29% in 2015.

TB thus remains a very important occupational hazard for health workers (HW) in countries with low, medium, and high TB incidence. The risk appears particularly high when there is increased exposure combined with inadequate infection control measures. Both undiagnosed and late-diagnosed tuberculosis represent a major problem. The implementation of protective measures is often inadequate. According to WHO, the rapid diagnosis and successful treatment of people with TB and LTBI avert millions of deaths each year, but there are still large and persistent gaps in TB detection and treatment. 

The introduction of the Interferon-Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) has led to changes in TB screening in some countries. In other countries, the Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) is still advocated for the screening of HW. HW are regularly tested for LTBI and TB. Therefore, test variability and interpretation of the IGRA in repeated tests are important issues. New generations of IGRAs are available, but so far, they have not been well evaluated for LTBI/TB screening in HW. Little is known about the progression risk after a positive TST or IGRA in a HW.

This Topical Collection is intended to report on the latest advances in research on LTBI and TB among HW. It is open to studies on any of the related topic. We are looking for research articles covering areas such as screening strategies and diagnosis of TB/LTBI in HW, treatment of LBTI, protective measures, prevention strategies, epidemiological data in individual areas of health care, and the new generations of IGRA.

Prof. Dr. Albert Nienhaus
Collection Editors

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• tuberculosis
• latent TB Infection
• health personnel
• epidemiology
• TB Prevention Strategies
• protective Measures
• IGRA
• Tuberculin Skin Test (TST)
• nosocomial infections