Tuberculosis among prison staff in Rio Grande do Sul.

OBJECTIVE

to evaluate the risk of infection and illness caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis among health care and security staff in prisons in two regions of Rio Grande do Sul (RS).

METHOD: cross-sectional study involving prison staff. An interview and sputum smear microscopy and culture were performed. Latent infection was evaluated according to the result of the tuberculin test (TT), self-referred.

RESULTS

among staff who had a TT, 10 (83.3%) in the central region and 2 (16.7%) in the southern region were considered reactors. Length of employment among prison officers who reacted to TT was 15.3 years, and among health care workers, 4.1 years (p = 0.01). No cases of active tuberculosis (TB) were identified.

CONCLUSION

prevalence of latent TB was 27.9%. Length of employment between different professional categories and their working regions was considered a risk factor for latent TB.