Tuberculosis among Health Care Workers

The risk of tuberculosis among health care workers was substantial in the era before antibiotics1 but declined rapidly after 1950 because of the lower incidence of the disease in the population and the advent of effective therapy. These changes resulted in the relaxation of infection-control practices in hospitals, if not outright neglect of such practices. Over the past decade, two factors have profoundly altered views about the risk of tuberculosis in health care workers. The first is the resurgence of the disease. Between 1985 and 1991, the incidence of all forms of tuberculosis increased by 24 to 34 percent in . . .