Serial testing of health care workers for tuberculosis infection : A prospective cohort study
Casas, Irma (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Esteve Pardo, Ma. Guadalupe (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Guerola, Rosa (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Latorre, Irene (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Villar-Hernández, Raquel (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Mena, Guillermo (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Prat i Aymerich, Cristina (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Matllo, Joan (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Domínguez, José (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)

Date:	2020
Abstract:	Health Care Workers (HCW) may have an occupational risk of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and TB disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the 2-step strategy: tuberculin skin test (TST) followed by confirmation with Interferon (IFN)-γ- release assays (IGRAs) in HCW. A secondary objective was to determine the factors related to conversions and reversions. HCW at risk of occupational exposure who attended the Occupational Department of the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol were included during the study period (2013-2016). All professionals testing negative for LTBI were included in a cohort study. These workers were followed up with the administration of a TST and an IGRA quantification at least one year after inclusion in the study. Workers with positive TST, regardless of the results of the IGRA tests, were followed-up with an IGRA. 255 workers were enrolled in the study and 108 workers from the same cohort were followed up. During the follow-up period, seven workers presented TST test conversion. One of these conversions was also confirmed by an IGRA test. There were 2 conversions of cases only testing positive with the IGRA. There have been only 2 reversions of cases testing negative with the IGRA. In this study, not all TST conversions were confirmed when using the IGRA test, which highlights the importance of the 2-step strategy. We have detected a low number of conversions and reversions. Our conclusions should be confirmed in studies with a longer follow-up time.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-494 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PI13/01546 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PI/16/01912
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	PloS one, Vol. 15 (july 2020) , ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235986
PMID: 32678856

12 p, 768.3 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut d'Investigació en Ciencies de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles