Estimation of incidence of tuberculosis infection in health-care workers using repeated interferon-gamma assays.
The aim was to estimate the incidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection in health-care workers (HCWs) in Japan. We repeated cross-sectional surveys of HCWs with QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) in 2003, 2005 and 2007 at a hospital with tuberculosis (TB) wards, and 311 HCWs who underwent QFT-G testing two or three times were included in the study. Five HCWs (1.8%) converted from negative to positive. Incidence of new TB infection was estimated to be 0.6/100 person-years by the CDC's definition. Thirteen positive persons (41%) reverted from positive to negative. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified a significant association between QFT-G conversion and working in TB wards. The IFN-gamma levels of all but two subjects with reverting or converting QFT-G results were close to the test's cut-off. The incidence of Mtb infection in HCWs at our hospital was higher than that estimated for the general population in Japan. Criteria for defining QFT-G conversion and reversion need further investigation considering the high proportion of reversion, as the incidence of infection would have changed if we had applied other definitions.
Fukujuji Hospital, Matsuyama, Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan. yoshiyama1962@yahoo.co.jp
T
T
Yoshiyama
N
N
Harada
K
K
Higuchi
Y
Y
Nakajima
H
H
Ogata
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
D007371:Interferon-gamma