| Summary: | 碩士 === 國防醫學院 === 公共衛生學研究所 === 99 === Prior to being clinically diagnosed with active tuberculosis, the people may have been exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and thus infected. Currently, the primary method of diagnosing close contacts domestically is the chest x-ray or in conjunction with TST. However both test methods are not capable of detecting latent tuberculosis infection. The aim of this study is to assess close contacts of clinically diagnosed active tuberculosis cases and its relationship with the risk factors and prevalence of tuberculosis infection compared to annual physical examinations of general employees.
This is a cross-sectional study of the prevalence and its risk factors of latent TB infection within close contacts and has been approved by the Institutional Review Board. The subjects of this study are close contacts that have been exposed to (living together for 8 hours a day, or exposed for 40 hours or more in total) people diagnosed with active TB and compared with employees in a similar field of work. Questionnaires are given to willing participants in this study to gather risk factor information, then blood samples were taken. Utilizing Quanti-FERON®-TB Gold In-Tube, a patient’s TB infection status was obtained. Results from experiment and questionnaires are analyzed using SAS ver. 9.2 with multiple logistic regression to find correlation and risk factors.
This study found that the QFT-GIT positive rate of close contacts (23.4%) was significantly higher than that of workers who were not exposed to people with clinically diagnosed of active TB (9%). The risk factors for QFT-GIT positivity were older age (OR=1.03, 95%CI=1.00-1.06), lower BMI (OR=0.09, 95%CI=0.82-0.99), history of TB (yes vs. no, OR=22.07, 95%CI=2.12-229.98) and close contacts (yes vs. no, OR=3.62, 95%CI=1.98-6.63).
Our study indicated close contacts had higher risk of Mycobacterium infection than those people who were not exposed to TB patients. Our result indicated that people who have the above mentioned risk factors should be given health education for preventive protection of TB. In addition, institutes of health should establish a registration and management database for close contacts of TB patients to better follow up.
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