[Health surveillance program for the prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection risk among health personnel of the Polyclinic and the University of Modena].

Surveillance programme for the prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis risk infection among health care workers at Azienda Policlinico and Università di Modena. Increase in tuberculosis (TB) morbidity and mortality in the last decade even in highly industrialized countries represents a major public health problem. Health care workers (HCWs) are one of the high-risk group for TB infection in the population. Several international guidelines for the prevention and control of TB infection among HCWs have been proposed, also including expensive and not easily applicable interventions. A surveillance programme has been set up at the Servizio di Sorveglianza Sanitaria in the Azienda Policlinico di Modena aimed to the early identification of hospital workers with recently-acquired latent TB infection, B.C.G. vaccination of PPD skin negative subjects working in intermediate-high TB risk workplaces, periodic evaluation of PPD skin conversion rates among personnel of each working area. This programme, whose feasibility depends on the availability of adequate resources, is considered as a tool suitable for the individual risk assessment and should be performed together with technical and structural interventions to carry out an effective primary prevention of TB infection among HCWs.