Background and objective: Tuberculosis is an occupational disease in health care workers. The objective of our study was to review tuberculosis cases in health care professionals from a general hospital and to determine their incidence in relation to the general population.
Patients and method: This was a retrospective study of tuberculosis cases among health care workers in a university hospital from 1988 to 2002, evaluating the annual cumulative incidence.
Results: 21 tuberculosis cases were found in health care workers. Pulmonary disease was the most frequent type (62%) followed by pleural effusion (28%). The most affected professional category were medical residents (38%) with the emergency service (48%) being the work place with the highest risk. The cumulative incidence in our hospital was higher in relation to the general population although there was a variability between both populations.
Conclusions: There is risk of tuberculosis transmission among health care workers, principally in the emergency service and the pathology and microbiological departments. A concerted effort is needed to maintain prevention measures in the work place where there is a high risk of infection.