title: Laboratory-acquired brucellosis in Turkey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laboratory healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of laboratory-acquired brucellosis (LAB).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the risk factors of LAB among HCWs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A multicentre survey study was conducted by face-to-face interview in 38 hospitals from 17 provinces of Turkey. A structured survey was administered to the HCWs, working in infectious diseases clinics and microbiology departments, who were at risk of brucella infection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The survey response rate was 100%. Of the 667 laboratory workers, 38 (5.8%) had a history of LAB. In multivariate analysis, factors independently associated with an increased risk of LAB included working with the brucella bacteria (odds ratio: 5.12; 95% confidence interval: 2.28-11.52; P < 0.001) and male gender (2.14; 1.02-4.45; P = 0.042). Using a biosafety cabinet level 2 (0.13; 0.03-0.60; P = 0.009), full adherence to glove use (0.27; 0.11-0.65; P = 0.004) and longer duration of professional life (0.86; 0.80-0.92; P < 0.001) were found to be protective.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Working with the brucella bacteria, being male, a lack of compliance with personal protective equipment and biosafety cabinets were the independent risk factors for the development of LAB in our series. Increased adherence to personal protective equipment and use of biosafety cabinets should be priority targets to prevent LAB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Pamukkale University, Faculty of Medicine, Denizli, Turkey. sayinkutlu@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sayin-Kutlu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kutlu
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ergonul
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akalin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guven
authors.forename: Y Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Demiroglu
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Acicbe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey