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Mirtskhulava, V., Kempker, R., Shields, K.L., Leonard, M.K., Tsertsvadze, T., del Rio, C., Salakaia, A. and Blumberg, H.M. (2008) Prevalence and Risk Factors for Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Health Care Workers in Georgia. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 12, 513-519.

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Selection of Health Care Workers for Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection

  AUTHORS: Jin Young Lee, Ji Young Park, Myung Shin Kim, Je Hun Kim, Jin-Young Lee

  KEYWORDS: Health Care Workers, Latent Tuberculosis, Prevalence, Treatment

  JOURNAL NAME: Journal of Tuberculosis Research, Vol.7 No.2, June 19, 2019

  ABSTRACT: Introduction: The rate of latent tuberculosis infections (LTBIs) in health care workers (HCWs) is higher than that in non-HCWs. We studied to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of LTBIs and the acceptance rate for treatment of LTBI among HCWs in South Korea, a country with an intermediate tuberculosis (TB) burden. Methodology: LTBI screening was conducted for HCWs at a tertiary and a secondary hospital from April 2017 to August 2017. This was a retrospective study included all HCWs who underwent LTBI examination. HCWs were classified by the degree of risk into four groups, based on two factors: possibility of exposure to TB, and impact on patients at the time of TB onset in the HCWs. The interferon-gamma release assay was used for the diagnosis of LTBI. Results: A total of 1326 HCWs were included; they comprised 801 HCWs from a tertiary hospital and 525 from a secondary hospital. A total of 235 (17.7%) HCWs were diagnosed with LTBIs. According to risk classification, there was no significant difference (P = 0.24). In multivariate analysis, age was the only independent risk factor (P Conclusions: HCWs did not show any significant difference in the rate of LTBI by the degree of risk, and age was the independent risk factor. LTBI screening should be conducted for all HCWs regardless of risk classification.