Tuberculosis Infection Among Medical Students before and After Clinical Rotations

Abstract Introduction: Considering the importance of screening for diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) infection among medical students and the necessity of annual TB tests and effectiveness of preventive programs, there is an ever increasing need for undertaking research to investigate the effect of residence in hospital on the risk of tuberculosis infection among students, and planning strategies for reducing and controlling the risk. Objective: this study was undertaken to investigate the probability of tuberculosis infection in medical students during clinical education at infectious disease wards.. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional comparative study performed on 70 medical students selected via census sampling method during 2015-2017. In this research, Tuberculin skin test was done on the students once in the first week of externship rotation at infectious diseases ward and the second test on that students with negative results in the internships course at the infection diseases ward, with the results analyzed accordingly. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS v.20 Software and investigated based on descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and Fisher’s exact and logistic regression tests. Results: In the present study, the rate of positive PPD reaction at the first clinical rotation in infectious disease ward was 13% and the rate of PPD conversion during internship was 16%.  No significant relationship was found between any of the considered variables and the results of the second tuberculin test. However, a significant relationship was observed between age and positive result of the second tuberculin test (p = 0.01). Conclusion: There is a significant risk of tuberculosis infection in medical students during clinical education.It is recommended not only monitor the students periodically in terms of TB infection but also in case of infection prophylactic interventions to prevent new infection and active TB disease in those with PPD conversion seems necessary. Conflict of interest: non declared