Tuberculosis Healthcare Workers: There Goes My Hero

• Authors: David E. Griffith, National Jewish Health; J. Cegielski, Emory University
• Journal Title: Clinical Infectious Diseases
• Volume: Volume 72, Number 1
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc. | 2021-01-01, Pages 27-29
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa716
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Immunology; Infectious Diseases; Microbiology; tuberculosis; healthcare worker; World Health Organization; PICO; COVID-19; TRANSMISSION

Abstract

Case identification, respiratory isolation, personal protective equipment (PPE), and contact investigation are recent additions to the national dialogue as a consequence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. They are, of course, long-term components of the tuberculosis (TB) healthcare workers’ (HCWs) vernacular. There are important differences between COVID-19 infection and TB, but nosocomial transmission to HCWs is a critically important shared characteristic.