Biomaterial Database

Tuberculosis and the health care worker: a historical perspective. 1994

K A Sepkowitz

Infectious Disease Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, NY 10021.

Many hospital outbreaks of tuberculosis have occurred in recent years in the United States, resulting in tuberculosis infection and disease among health care workers and patients. Several hospital workers have died of nosocomially acquired multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Assuring the safety of the health care worker with respect to tuberculosis has become an urgent priority. A review of the medical literature of the past 100 years reveals that our current view of tuberculosis care as an occupational hazard emerged only in the 1950s, after a fierce and extensive debate. Many authorities had felt that care of the tuberculous patient conferred a health advantage to the care provider. This paper reviews this debate and considers steps taken decades ago, before our current environmental interventions were available to ensure the safety of the health care worker.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D006282	Health Personnel	Men and women working in the provision of health services, whether as individual practitioners or employees of health institutions and programs, whether or not professionally trained, and whether or not subject to public regulation. (From A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, 1976)	Health Care Professionals,Health Care Providers,Healthcare Providers,Healthcare Workers,Health Care Professional,Health Care Provider,Healthcare Provider,Healthcare Worker,Personnel, Health,Professional, Health Care,Provider, Health Care,Provider, Healthcare
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D014374	Tuberculin Test	One of several skin tests to determine past or present tuberculosis infection. A purified protein derivative of the tubercle bacilli, called tuberculin, is introduced into the skin by scratch, puncture, or interdermal injection.	Test, Tuberculin,Tests, Tuberculin,Tuberculin Tests
D014397	Tuberculosis, Pulmonary	MYCOBACTERIUM infections of the lung.	Pulmonary Consumption,Pulmonary Phthisis,Pulmonary Tuberculoses,Pulmonary Tuberculosis,Tuberculoses, Pulmonary,Consumption, Pulmonary,Consumptions, Pulmonary,Phthises, Pulmonary,Phthisis, Pulmonary,Pulmonary Consumptions,Pulmonary Phthises
D014481	United States	A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D016272	Occupational Health	The promotion and maintenance of physical and mental health in the work environment.	Employee Health,Industrial Health,Industrial Hygiene,Occupational Safety,Health, Industrial,Hygiene, Industrial,Safety, Occupational,Health, Employee,Health, Occupational
D017758	Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional	The transmission of infectious disease or pathogens from patients to health professionals or health care workers. It includes transmission via direct or indirect exposure to bacterial, fungal, parasitic, or viral agents.	Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional,Transmission, Patient-to-Professional,Disease Transmission, Patient-Professional,Infection Transmission, Patient-Professional,Pathogen Transmission, Patient-Professional,Patient-to-Professional Disease Transmission,Patient-to-Professional Transmission,Transmission, Patient-Professional,Disease Transmission, Patient Professional,Disease Transmission, Patient to Professional,Infection Transmission, Patient Professional,Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient to Professional,Pathogen Transmission, Patient Professional,Patient to Professional Disease Transmission,Patient to Professional Transmission,Patient-Professional Disease Transmission,Patient-Professional Infection Transmission,Patient-Professional Infection Transmissions,Patient-Professional Pathogen Transmission,Patient-Professional Transmission,Transmission, Patient Professional,Transmission, Patient to Professional,Transmission, Patient-Professional Infection,Transmission, Patient-Professional Pathogen
D049671	History, 18th Century	Time period from 1701 through 1800 of the common era.	18th Century History,18th Cent. History (Medicine),18th Cent. History of Medicine,18th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 18th Century,History of Medicine, 18th Cent.,History, Eighteenth Century,Medical History, 18th Cent.,Medicine, 18th Cent.,18th Century Histories,Cent. History, 18th (Medicine),Cent. Medicine, 18th,Century Histories, 18th,Century Histories, Eighteenth,Century History, 18th,Century History, Eighteenth,Eighteenth Century Histories,Eighteenth Century History,Histories, 18th Century,Histories, Eighteenth Century,History, 18th Cent. (Medicine)
D049672	History, 19th Century	Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era.	19th Century History,19th Cent. History (Medicine),19th Cent. History of Medicine,19th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 19th Century,History of Medicine, 19th Cent.,History, Nineteenth Century,Medical History, 19th Cent.,Medicine, 19th Cent.,19th Cent. Histories (Medicine),19th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 19th (Medicine),Cent. History, 19th (Medicine),Century Histories, 19th,Century Histories, Nineteenth,Century History, 19th,Century History, Nineteenth,Histories, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 19th Century,Histories, Nineteenth Century,History, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Nineteenth Century Histories,Nineteenth Century History
D049673	History, 20th Century	Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.	20th Century History,20th Cent. History (Medicine),20th Cent. History of Medicine,20th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 20th Century,History of Medicine, 20th Cent.,History, Twentieth Century,Medical History, 20th Cent.,Medicine, 20th Cent.,20th Cent. Histories (Medicine),20th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 20th (Medicine),Cent. History, 20th (Medicine),Century Histories, 20th,Century Histories, Twentieth,Century History, 20th,Century History, Twentieth,Histories, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 20th Century,Histories, Twentieth Century,History, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Twentieth Century Histories,Twentieth Century History