Abstract

The records of all employees of the four major hospitals in İzmir (averaging 6156 individuals, with slight variations at different years), were retrospectively examined for development of tuberculosis. A total of 59 health care workers who contracted tuberculosis were identified. Twenty-six (44.1%) of these were men and 33 (55.9%) were women. Their mean age was 38.3±11.7 years. The incidence of tuberculosis was significantly higher in health care workers compared with the remainder of the population. The employees of chest departments had a 6.37 times higher risk of tuberculosis than the employees of other departments OR: 6.37 (3.69-11.00). The nurses had a 2.63 times higher risk than the doctors OR:2.63, (1.12-6.36). These findings suggest that tuberculosis can be considered an occupational disease.