Incidence of tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers in high-risk departments for tuberculosis after universal wearing of KF94 mask during COVID-19 pandemic.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Namgung SH
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10029346 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Incidence of tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers in high-risk departments for tuberculosis after universal wearing of KF94 mask during COVID-19 pandemic.
Namgung Song Hee SH Jung Jiwon J Kim Sun Kyung SK Kim Eun Ok EO Jo Kyung-Wook KW Shim Tae Sun TS Kim Sung-Han SH
The Journal of infection 20230321 4
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Project description:The test-specific incidence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in healthcare workers from sub-Saharan Africa is unknown. 505 healthcare workers from South Africa were screened at baseline, and after 12 months, with a questionnaire, the tuberculin skin test (TST), and two T-cell assays (T-SPOT.TB and QuantiFERON-TB Gold-In-Tube). Test-specific conversion rates were calculated. The prevalence of presumed LTBI at baseline was 84, 69 and 62% using the TST, QuantiFERON-TB Gold-In-Tube and T-SPOT.TB, respectively. The annual test-specific conversion rate, depending on the cut-off point used, was as follows: TST 38%; QuantiFERON-TB Gold-In-Tube 13-22%; and T-SPOT.TB 18-22%. Annual reversion rates were 4, 7 and 16%, respectively. The annual TST conversion rate was significantly higher than that derived from published local community-based data (IRR 3.53, 95% CI 1.81-6.88). Factors associated with conversion (any test) included healthcare sector of employment, counselling of tuberculosis patients, and a baseline positive TST (for T-SPOT.TB). The annual rate of tuberculosis infection in South African healthcare workers was very high, irrespective of the testing method used, and may be explained by occupational exposure, as the rate was considerably higher than non-healthcare workers from the same community. Collectively, these data support the need for implementation of tuberculosis-specific infection control measures in Africa.
| S-EPMC5523975 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveAt the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCW) in our ED were advised against and actively discouraged from wearing masks when not seeing respiratory patients, as mask wearing was thought to increase the risk of droplet transmission by face touching. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether HCW using face masks were more or less likely to touch their faces than those not wearing masks.MethodsWe analysed six randomly selected hours of closed circuit television footage from our staff base. Face touches were recorded electronically by trained researchers. Generalised linear mixed models were used to compare the frequency and duration of face touches with and without face masks, controlling for individual clusters, adjusting for time of footage, duration on screen and staff role.ResultsData were collected from 187 HCW. Masks were worn in 231 (36%) of 642 screen sessions. Wearing a mask did not significantly change the odds of face touching (odds ratio 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.30-1.01, P = 0.055) or duration of face touch (mean difference -1.45 s, 95% CI -8.84, 5.99, P = 0.71). For mucosal areas, a significant reduction in the odds of face touching was observed for mask wearers (odds ratio 0.21, 95% CI 0.11-0.43, P < 0.001) and on the frequency of mucosal touches (rate ratio 0.45, 95% CI 0.29-0.69, P < 0.001).ConclusionsMask wearing did not change face touching or the duration of face touches. However, significantly fewer mucosal touches were observed when wearing a mask, which may help to reduce nosocomial droplet transmission of viruses.
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Project description:Poor public health information is a hurdle in infectious disease control. The study aims to examine whether healthcare workers adhere to hand hygiene and mask-wearing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore their exposure to misinformation about the pandemic as a predictor. A cross-sectional survey was sent to 518 healthcare workers across Indonesia, the fourth largest nation in the world, in September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents reported whether they adhered to the guidelines of hand hygiene and mask wearing and whether they believed in four pieces of misinformation about the origin, severity, contagion, and prevention of COVID-19. The association between misinformation and hand hygiene and mask wearing was tested with logistic regression models controlling for demographic and health-related covariates. Approximately 25% of healthcare workers did not always adhere to hand hygiene guidelines and approximately 5% did not adhere to mask-wearing guidelines. There are significant associations between all four pieces of misinformation and hand hygiene and mask wearing. It is important to improve public health information about COVID-19, which may hold key to healthcare workers' hand hygiene and mask wearing and to protect their health and patients' safety.
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Project description:Human behavior can have effects on oneself and externalities on others. Mask wearing is such a behavior in the current pandemic. What motivates people to wear face masks in public when mask wearing is voluntary or not enforced? Which benefits should the policy makers rather emphasize in information campaigns-the reduced chances of getting the SARS-CoV-2 virus (benefits for oneself) or the reduced chances of transmitting the virus (benefits for others in the society)? In this paper, we link measured risk preferences and other-regarding preferences to mask wearing habits among 840 surveyed employees of two large Swiss hospitals. We find that the leading mask-wearing motivations change with age: While for older people, mask wearing habits are best explained by their self-regarding risk preferences, younger people are also motivated by other-regarding concerns. Our results are robust to different specifications including linear probability models, probit models and Lasso covariate selection models. Our findings thus allow drawing policy implications for effectively communicating public-health recommendations to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| S-EPMC8289104 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMozambican healthcare workers have high rates of latent and active tuberculosis, but occupational screening for tuberculosis is not routine in this setting. Furthermore, the specificity of tuberculin skin testing in this population compared with interferon gamma release assay testing has not been established.MethodsThis study was conducted among healthcare workers at Maputo Central Hospital, a public teaching quaternary care hospital in Mozambique. With a cross sectional study design, risk factors for tuberculosis were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. The care cascade is reported for participants who were prescribed six months of isoniazid preventive therapy for HIV or highly reactive testing for latent tuberculosis infection. The agreement of interferon-gamma release assay results with positive tuberculin skin testing was calculated.ResultsOf 690 screened healthcare workers, three (0.4%) had active tuberculosis and 426 (61.7%) had latent tuberculosis infection. Less education, age 35-49, longer hospital service, and work in the surgery department were associated with increased likelihood of being tuberculosis infected at baseline (p < 0.05). Sex, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination, HIV, outside tuberculosis contacts, and professional category were not. Three new cases of active tuberculosis developed during the follow-up period, two while on preventive therapy. Among 333 participants offered isoniazid preventive therapy, five stopped due to gastrointestinal side effects and 181 completed treatment. For HIV seropositive individuals, the agreement of interferon gamma release assay positivity with positive tuberculin skin testing was 50% among those with a quantitative skin test result of 5-10 mm, and among those with a skin test result ≥10 mm it was 87.5%. For HIV seronegative individuals, the agreement of interferon gamma release assay positivity with a tuberculin skin test result of 10-14 mm was 63.6%, and for those with a quantitative skin test result ≥15 mm it was 82.2%.ConclusionsThere is a high prevalence of tuberculosis infected healthcare workers at Maputo Central Hospital. The surgery department was most heavily affected, suggesting occupational risk. Isoniazid preventive therapy initiation was high and just over half completed therapy. An interferon gamma release assay was useful to discern LTBI from false positives among those with lower quantitative tuberculin skin test results.
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Project description:BackgroundHealthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of tuberculosis infection (TBI). We estimated the prevalence and incidence of TBI and risk factors among HCWs in Bangladeshi hospitals to target TB infection prevention and control (IPC) interventions.MethodsDuring 2013-2016, we conducted a longitudinal study among HCWs in four chest disease hospitals. At baseline, we administered a questionnaire on sociodemographic and occupational factors for TB, tuberculin skin tests (TST) in all hospitals, and QuantiFERON ®-TB Gold in-Tube (QFT-GIT) tests in one hospital. We assessed factors associated with baseline TST positivity (induration ≥10mm), TST conversion (induration increase ≥10mm from baseline), baseline QFT-GIT positivity (interferon-gamma ≥0.35 IU/mL), and QFT-GIT conversion (interferon-gamma <0.35 IU/mL to ≥0.35 IU/mL). We included factors with a biologically plausible relationship with TBI identified in prior studies or having an association (p = <0.20) in the bivariate analyses with TST positivity or QFT-GIT positivity in multivariable generalized linear models. The Kaplan-Meier was used to estimate the cumulative TBI incidence rate per 100 person-years.ResultsOf the 758 HCWs invited, 732 (97%) consented to participate and 731 completed the one-step TST, 40% had a positive TST result, and 48% had a positive QFT-GIT result. In multivariable models, HCWs years of service 11-20 years had 2.1 (95% CI: 1.5-3.0) times higher odds of being TST-positive and 1.6 (95% CI 1.1-2.5) times higher odds of QFT-GIT-positivity at baseline compared with those working ≤10 years. HCWs working 11-20 years in pulmonary TB ward had 2.0 (95% CI: 1.4-2.9) times higher odds of TST positivity, and those >20 years had 2.5 (95% CI: 1.3-4.9) times higher odds of QFT-GIT-positivity at baseline compared with those working <10 years. TBI incidence was 4.8/100 person-years by TST and 4.2/100 person-years by QFT-GIT. Females had 8.5 (95% CI: 1.5-49.5) times higher odds of TST conversion than males.ConclusionsPrevalent TST and QFT-GIT positivity was associated with an increased number of years working as a healthcare worker and in pulmonary TB wards. The incidence of TBI among HCWs suggests ongoing TB exposure in these facilities and an urgent need for improved TB IPC in chest disease hospitals in Bangladesh.
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Project description:Recent popular press authors have proposed that men are less likely to wear face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigate this notion in the current article by analyzing three extant datasets. We also assess the mediating effect of eight different face mask perceptions in the relation between gender and face mask wearing via the Face Mask Perceptions Scale. Across the three datasets, the sample-size weighted meta-analytic correlation between gender and face mask wearing was not statistically significant, and no face mask perception was a consistent mediator of this effect. Gender did have significant relations with two face mask perceptions, however. Men were more likely to perceive face masks as infringing on their independence, whereas women were more likely to perceive face masks as uncomfortable. Therefore, although gender does not relate to whether a person wears a face mask, it does relate to face mask perceptions. We offer several suggestions for research and practice from these results, such as the positioning of face mask wearing alongside passive health behaviors, the broader study of face mask perceptions' outcomes beyond face mask wearing, as well as the creation of interventions to target differing face mask perceptions across genders.
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