Bovine Tuberculosis Case Intervention Using the T.SPOT.TB Assay to Screen Dairy Workers in Bailey County, Texas

Details

• Personal Author:
  Douphrate D ; Gimeno Ruiz de Porras D ; Hagevoort R ; Nonnenmann M ; Perez A ; Prot E ; Rodriguez A
• Description:
  Background: One potential exposure on a dairy farm is Mycobacterium bovis or bovine tuberculosis (bTB)-an infectious zoonotic pathogen. The prevalence of tuberculosis among dairy workers in the U.S. is unknown largely due to insufficient surveillance and testing practices. Our objective was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of LTBI among dairy workers potentially exposed to cattle infected with bTB in two Bailey County, Texas dairy farms in 2016. Methods: This study involved a secondary analysis of data that were collected by Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Public Health Region 1 (PHR 1). A total of 140 dairy workers were tested using the T.SPOT.TB test assay. As a proxy for occupational exposures, we used three categories of cattle exposure groups based on work task, duration, and conditions of exposure to cattle-high, medium, low. Results: Positive LTBI was found among 14/140 (10.0%) of the dairy workers tested with 12/87 (13.8%) in Dairy A and 2/53 (3.8%) in Dairy B. All LTBI cases were determined to be from Hispanic workers with 71.4% indicating having been vaccinated with the BCG vaccine in their country of birth and none indicated previously known exposure to TB. The high category of cattle exposure group experienced the highest prevalence of LTBI (64.3%), followed by the medium cattle exposure group (28.6%), and the low cattle exposure group (7.1%). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the prevalence of LTBI among dairy workers in Bailey County, Texas is higher than demographically comparable workforces. Future efforts should focus on the development, delivery, and evaluation of a tuberculosis-and other zoonotic diseases-health and safety training which can become a part of a more comprehensive safety management and training program on dairy farms. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Cattle Communicable Diseases Dairy Products Farmers Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Tuberculosis
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Workers Animal Husbandry Workers Author Keywords: Bovine Tuberculosis BTB Cattle Industry Dairy Products Dairy Workers Farm Workers Infectious Diseases Latent Tuberculosis Infection LTBI Occupational Exposure T.SPOT.TB TB Texas Zoonoses

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• ISSN:
  2296-2565
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Iowa ; New Mexico ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 7 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061413
• Citation:
  Front Public Health 2020 Sep; 8:479
• Contact Point Address:
  Anabel Rodriguez, Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, United States
• Email:
  Anabel.Rodriguez@uth.tmc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Frontiers in Public Health
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5f0dd9b12ec2e042d765fea74e590fd7beb75e56de4b4f2c7119b50c7e9d0eb7de3bf1fb87603617ca86db9bac6a6f6a299c508777b858228646b3c17de81976
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224949/cdc_224949_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 193.19 KB ]