Assessing the Relative Importance of the Components of an Occupational Tuberculosis Control Program

Details

• Personal Author:
  Nicas M
• Description:
  Hospital-based occupational tuberculosis (TB) control programs have four basic components: rapid detection of TB disease in presenting patients; use of environmental controls, including personal respiratory protection; periodic tuberculin skin testing; and administration of prophylactic antibiotic therapy to newly infected employees. This article assesses which component is the most important in reducing TB disease risk among health care workers. A quantitative framework for estimating disease risk is developed, and two important results are described. First, the rapid identification of TB disease in presenting patients is the most important element in the overall program. Second, once TB disease has been identified, the use of highly efficient environmental controls (which include respiratory protection) becomes the most important element; these controls are especially important for procedures such as bronchoscopy and autopsy, which can aerosolize large numbers of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Anti-Bacterial Agents Communicable Disease Control Communicable Diseases Engineering Environmental Health Environmental Monitoring Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Antibiotics Disease-control Disease-incidence Disease-transmission Diseases Engineering-controls Environmental-control Environmental-factors Health-care-facilities Health-care-personnel Infection-control Infectious-diseases Occupational-health Risk-analysis Risk-factors

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• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  40
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024406
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 1998 Jul; 40(7):648-654
• Contact Point Address:
  Mark Nicas, PhD, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Risk Assessment Methods
• Performing Organization:
  University of California-Berkeley, School of Public Health, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Berkeley, CA 94720
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19960701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  19990630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c5067269957d72073cf9f27e9863f9c52cd713ffe02725a47a4204f8f90d4ab12d84199da92f5e6251ab0b09a8c2c690e155927a792f53cab4a1d59bdb5be77d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196223/cdc_196223_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.05 MB ]