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Peer reviewedOpen accessTuberculosis

Why healthcare workers are sick of TB

International Journal of Infectious Diseases·

Arne von Delft, Angela Dramowski, Celso Khosa, Koot Kotze, Philip Lederer, Thato Mosidi, Jurgens A. Peters, Jonathan Smith, Helene-Mari van der Westhuizen, Dalene von Delft, Bart Willems, Matthew Bates, Gill Craig, Markus Maeurer, Ben J. Marais, Peter Mwaba, Elizabete A. Nunes, Thomas Nyirenda, Matt Oliver, Alimuddin Zumla

DOI
10.1016/j.ijid.2014.12.003
PMID
25809771
PMCID
OpenAlex
W2107309301
Study type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Article type
journal-article
Integrity
current

Why this research matters now

The viewpoint identifies healthcare-worker protection and workforce availability as public health concerns and proposes infection-control, diagnostic, treatment, and stigma-reduction measures. These implications are presented as the authors' recommendations rather than as effects evaluated by the paper.

01

Structured evidence summary

Research question

The viewpoint examines the belief that healthcare workers are protected from tuberculosis, factors associated with their risk of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis, and the stigma and non-disclosure associated with occupational disease.

Study design

This is a viewpoint paper rather than a reported primary research study.

Population and setting

The discussion concerns healthcare workers, illustrated by the reported experience of Dr Thato Mosidi. The supplied abstract does not define a study sample, geographic setting, or recruitment method.

Main findings

The paper states that healthcare workers may face increased risk of tuberculosis, including drug-resistant disease, and describes occupational stigma as contributing to non-disclosure. It calls for improved diagnostics and treatment, stronger infection control, and interventions addressing stigma and discrimination.

Public-health relevance

The viewpoint identifies healthcare-worker protection and workforce availability as public health concerns and proposes infection-control, diagnostic, treatment, and stigma-reduction measures. These implications are presented as the authors' recommendations rather than as effects evaluated by the paper.

Important limitations

The supplied evidence identifies the article as a viewpoint and does not provide an evaluated study sample, methods, comparative analysis, or quantified estimates. This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original paper is required for decision-grade interpretation.

GIDS interpretation

The article is discoverable as a tuberculosis publication concerning healthcare-worker risk, antimicrobial resistance, diagnostics, transmission dynamics, and treatment. The supplied article does not establish or confirm any live surveillance signal.

02

Related GIDS surveillance

Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.

03

Evidence relationships

This article has 10 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.

about diseaseaddresses topicaddresses topicaddresses topicaddresses topicevaluates interventionevaluates interventionstudied population settingstudies populationuses study design