Abstract
SETTING
Tuberculosis (TB), including drug-resistant TB, is a serious problem in Belarus.
OBJECTIVES
To determine the prevalence of TB among health care workers (HCWs) along with patient characteristics, treatment outcomes and drug resistance patterns between 2008 and 2012.
DESIGN
A retrospective national record review.
RESULTS
There were 116 HCWs with TB. Case notification rates were higher among HCWs than in the general population (349 vs. 40/100 000 in 2012). Most HCWs with TB were nurses (n = 46, 40%) or nurse assistants (n = 37, 32%), female (n = 100, 86%) and aged 25-44 years (n = 84, 72%). Most common places of work for HCWs with TB were multidrug-resistant (MDR-) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) wards (n = 23, 20%), general medical (n = 26, 22%) and non-medical (n = 34, 29%) departments. All HCWs had pulmonary TB, 107 (92%) had new TB and 103 (89%) had negative sputum smears. Of the 38 (33%) with culture and drug susceptibility testing (DST), 28 (74%) had MDR-/XDR-TB. In 109 HCWs evaluated for final treatment outcomes, 97 (89%) were successfully treated, and their results were not affected by DST status.
CONCLUSION
This study highlights the high prevalence of recorded TB in HCWs in TB health facilities in Belarus: there is a need to better understand and rectify this problem.
