A study has found that more than 50% of the health workers in different chest disease hospitals are suffering from latent tuberculosis.
The overall prevalence of latent TB infection among healthcare workers in the four state-run chest disease hospitals in Dhaka, Khulna, Chittagong and Rajshahi is at 54%; the highest prevalence, at 65%, was found among laboratory staffs in these hospitals.
The highest rate of infection (67%) was found among those from the Chittagong hospital and the lowest (40%) was found in Khulna. Some 80% workers with latent TB reported no prior exposure to pulmonary patients at home.
The study was conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB). It was officially published on the centre’s health and science bulletin in March.
The study was supported by the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) of the Health Ministry; USAID; and the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention of Atlanta, USA.
The infection was determined by a two-step tuberculin skin test in the four hospitals. From March-December 2013, ICDDRB invited a total of 501 health workers to take part in the study. 449 workers completed the two-step test. Doctors, nurses, administrative officers, laboratory staff, support staff and pharmacists were included.
A total of 229 of them were from the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital in Dhaka, 61 from the chest disease hospital in Chittagong, 81 from Khulna and 78 from Chittagong.
The largest group of participants were nurses accounting for 45%; some 60% of the subjects were female.
More than 80% of the workers reported receiving BCG (Bacille Calmettee Guerin) vaccine as a child. Active TB was not detected in any of the subjects.
Persons with latent TB are asymptomatic and are not infectious. They run approximately 10% chances of developing active TB during their lifetime, usually within the first two years after infection.
The ICDDRB bulletin said the study results shed a light on the need to improve TB infection control policies and procedures.
Dr Ashek Hosain, line director of the NTP, told the Dhaka Tribune that latent TB does not mean that the healthworker is a TB patient.
“But we suggested that all health workers should follow infection control procedures to keep safe,” he said.
Bangladesh has the sixth highest rate of tuberculosis infection in the world.
