Nosocomial Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission among healthcare students in a high incidence region, in Vitória, State of Espírito Santo.

This open comparative study for evaluating hypersensitivity to tuberculin among medical students (n=441), nursing students (n=178) and economics students (n=230) in Vitória, State of Espírito Santo, had the aim of assessing whether the prevalence of positive tuberculin tests among healthcare students could be used as a sentinel event for nosocomial transmission in localities with high endemicity. There was a significant change in the frequency of purified protein derivative reactivity in the nursing students (20.3%) and medical students (18.4%), in comparison with the economics students (6%) (p <0.001). As expected, the medical and nursing students had more knowledge about tuberculosis than did the economics students (p <0.001). Our data suggest that the incidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among nursing and medical students in our region, which has high endemicity of tuberculosis, does not differ from what is found in low-incidence countries. These data reinforce the need for implementing biosafety programs for this target population.