Occupational tuberculosis in South Africa: are health care workers adequately protected?

Setting: A provincial tertiary hospital in Gauteng province, South Africa, with a high burden of tuberculosis (TB) patients and high risk of TB exposure among health care workers (HCWs). Objective: To determine HCWs' adherence to recommended TB infection prevention and control practices, TB training and access to health services and HCW TB rates. Design: Interviews with 285 HCWs using a structured questionnaire as part of a large, international mixed-methods study. Results: Despite 10 HCWs (including seven support HCWs) acquiring clinical TB during their period of employment, 62.8% of interviewees were unaware of the hospital's TB management protocol. Receipt of training was low (34.5% of all HCWs and <5% of support HCWs trained on TB transmission; 27.5% of nurses trained on respirator use), as was use of respiratory protection (44.5% of HCWs trained on managing TB patients). Support HCWs were over 36 times more likely to use respiratory protection if trained; nurses who were trained were approximately 40 times more likely to use respirators if they were readily available. Conclusion: Improved coordination and uptake of TB infection prevention training is urgently needed, especially for non-clinical HCWs in settings of regular exposure to TB patients. Adequate supplies of appropriate respiratory protection must be made available.