Project Description

Author: Hossain et al.

Summary:

Despite the worldwide effort to control tuberculosis (TB), it remains a significant global health problem. Bangladesh is one of 22 countries with a high tuberculosis (TB) burden in the world. Community-level healthcare workers (HCWs) have a high risk of contracting Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection due to their direct contact with TB patients in the community. This cross-sectional study will be conducted to explore the prevalence of latent and active TB among community health care workers who are at highest risk for contact TB patients. The study will be conducted among community health workers of the National Tuberculosis Control Program of Bangladesh. A total of 127 community-level health care workers (TB control assistants, lab technicians, and health assistants) working in the geographic location of the Bogura district will be enrolled in this study after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. Before starting the study, ethical clearance will be obtained from the ERC of Bangladesh Medical Research council (BMRC). Informed written consent will be obtained from each of the participants. Data will be collected by a semistructured questionnaire that will elicit information on participants’ demographics, professional category and length of service in current position, previous and/or current history of TB infection. Each HCW will be investigated for latent TB by the tuberculin skin test (TST). All HCWs who will be positive for TST will undergo sputum acid-fast smear (AFS), Xpert MTB/RIF and CXR for active TB screening irrespective of symptoms. After the collection of this information and completion of the questionnaires, the collected data will be analyzed by SPSS 22.0

Status: Ongoing

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