Abstract

BORROTO GUTIERREZ, Susana; URBINO LOPEZ-CHAVEZ, Amelia  and  MARTINEZ ALVAREZ, Ana Maribel. Prevalence of tuberculin reactors among the workers of “Pedro Kourí” Tropical Medicine Institute, 1996-2000. Rev Cubana Med Trop [online]. 2006, vol.58, n.1. ISSN 0375-0760.

Tuberculin tests according to WHO standard technique were twice performed on the workers of “Pedro Kourí” Institute, distributed according to workstations, with the objective of determining the prevalence of reactors and estimating the proportion of tuberculin converters. In the first test, 472 workers were surveyed during 1996-1997 and in the second one 217 workers in October 2000. The number of non reactors decreased from 58.4% in the first survey to 24.6% in the second one whereas the quantity of positive cases (diameter ≥10 mm) increased from 33.5% to 55.2%. The Induration diameter mean also increased from 5.2 mm to 9.6 mm. A total of 42 workers (14.6%) suffered tuberculin conversion in that period. The highest amount of tuberculin conversions was found in areas exposed to higher risks. The prevalence of tuberculosis infection increased from the first to the second survey in most of the areas.

Keywords : Tuberculosis; tuberculosis infection; risk of infection.

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