title: Risk of occupational tuberculosis in National Tuberculosis Programme laboratories in Korea.
abstract: METHODS
  Mycobacteriology laboratories in the National Tuberculosis Control Programme in Korea.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine tuberculosis (TB) risk by type of work among laboratory workers compared to non-laboratory workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study of TB incidence among technicians involved in acid-fast bacilli smear microscopy or culture and/or drug susceptibility testing (DST) compared with that among managerial/clerical workers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two cases developed among 77 non-laboratory workers, two among 88 smear microscopy technicians, and 11 among 76 culture/DST technicians during the observation period. Compared to non-laboratory workers, the relative risk of TB was 1.4 (95% CI 0.2-10.0) among microscopy technicians and 7.8 (95% CI 1.7-34.9) among culture/DST technicians. TB developed among 7/15 DST technicians compared to only 2/59 culture/non-DST technicians. Compared to non-laboratory workers, the relative risk for DST technicians was 21.5 (95% CI 4.5-102.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DST led to the highest relative risk among all types of mycobacteriology work, while performing smear microscopy alone did not pose an elevated risk compared to clerical work.
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Paris, France. sjkim@iuatld.org
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Rieder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D007753:Laboratories; D008297:Male; D017056:Medical Laboratory Personnel; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013048:Specimen Handling; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*