[TUBERCULOSIS INFECTION PREVALENCE AMONG NURSING DEGREE STUDENTS IN LA RIOJA UNIVERSITY]

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of contagious and infectious character that has harassed humanity throughout its history. Many studies say that health professionals and health degrees students as degree in nursing are exposed to a higher risk of transmission of TB to deal with patients who suffer from this disease in their jobs.

Knowing the risk of acquiring infection by M. tuberculosis among students of the degree in nursing (GUE) from the University of La Rioja (UR); contrasting outcomes as they have made their formative period of clinical practice in hospitals or not. MEHODOLOGY: Observational study, descriptive, transversal and cutting, for which has been taken a representative sample of 106 students who carried an epidemiological-clinical questionnaire. After, according to criteria of participation and under informed consent, has been practiced them tuberculin test to see if they are infected or not causing by the tuberculosis bacillus. RESULTs: The final sample was 85 people, which were highly represented by women, whose average age was between 20 and 23 years old. The reading of the PT was managed to do in 28 from 37 students from 1st grade (75.7 %) and 45 from 48 students from 4th grade (93.75 %). The other participants not attended appointment agreed with them to perform reading, which accounted for 14.1% of abstention in the second part of the study. Response to the tuberculin globally compared, without taking into account other variables, didn't show differences in distribution between 1st and 4th grade students. The percentage of positive PT was 0 % between 1st grade students, while in 4th grade the percentage of infected with M. tuberculosis amounted to 2.22 %. The average size of indurdtions was 1.03 mm (±1.87) in students of 1st grade and 1.46 mm (±2.98) in the 4th grade, so that difference is not significant. The number of confirmed contacts with TB patients, or their samples, was more often in 4th grade students than 1st grade students (52 % vs. 18 %, respectively). From 19 people who had vaccine scar of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), 14 of them (73.68 %) showed some kind of reactivity to tuberculin. The prevalence of TB infection was very low among the students of GUE from UR (0.01).

The results aren't as expected, as was conceived one higher prevalence of infection among students more involved in health care. The fact that the results do not match those obtained in similar studies may be due to that they have been made in countries with the highest prevalence of the disease (Latin America). On the other hand it is considered that the low prevalence of tuberculous infection among students of the UR is the right preventive measures developed by institutions which develop clinical practices. Also a suitable training and awareness of students about how to prevent the spread of disease influences the good results obtained. Also, the low prevalence of tuberculous infection could be due to an insufficient time of exposure of these students in the health field to become infected.