title: Tuberculin positivity and patient contact in healthcare workers in the urban United States.
abstract: We performed tuberculin and anergy testing in 91 healthy volunteer employees from the patient transport and housekeeping units at an urban tertiary-care hospital, stratifying results by the risk factor of patient contact. Tuberculin positivity was highly prevalent in this group; patient contact was not a predictor of tuberculosis infection risk, and anergy was rare.
authors.affiliation: Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107-5083, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rattner
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fleischer
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015143:Philadelphia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health