Pulmonary tuberculosis and associated complications among the health care workers

Aim: to study the pulmonary tb and its associated complications among health care workers. methods: this descriptive study was carried out in the department of pulmonology,postgraduate medical institute/lahore general hospital,lahore from march 2012 to october 2012. the study was conducted among health care workers (doctors=35,nurses and nursing students=46 and other paramedics=19 like laboratory workers,ward assistants and cleaners),serving in the hospital for more than one year in the medicine and allied,surgical and allied and pathology department. results: among doctors,1(2.8%) case of active disease was detected while inactive disease was found in 4(11.4%) subjects. tuberculous infection rate was found to be 65.7%. among nurses,3(11.5%) were detected having active disease and 5(19.5%) inactive disease. among nursing students,4(20%) were suffering from active disease and 3(15%) inactive disease. conclusion: tuberculosis remains an occupational hazard for health care workers.