Tuberculosis in health care workers discussed in lecture

Before a crowd of prospective medical workers, Annelies Van Rie gave advice about delivering treatment without becoming the patient.

Van Rie, an epidemiology professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, spoke about the risk that tuberculosis poses to health care workers worldwide during an on-campus seminar on Wednesday.

Her presentation, “Tuberculosis in Health Care Workers: A Global Perspective,” was a part of the NORA Interdisciplinary Seminar Series sponsored by the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center.

Van Rie said an estimated one-third of the world population is currently infected with TB. For health care workers, the risk of being infected by this contagious disease is substantially higher than for the general population.

“Tuberculosis and infectious diseases still pose a substantial risk to health care workers and this risk will never go away,” Van Rie said.

Bonnie Rogers, director of the N.C. Education and Research Center, said Van Rie was asked to speak to students and researchers because she has conducted research in various countries around the world, including South Africa.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of occurrence of TB in the world.

Although the disease is preventable, South Africa cannot afford measures necessary to control its spread, a problem many countries with high TB instances share.

“Measures used in industrialized countries to control tuberculosis transmission are beyond resources of low-income countries,” Van Rie said.

The presentation by Van Rie gave information on how TB spreads among health care workers, how workers can reduce the burden of tuberculosis and what new findings have been made about the disease.

Health care workers are extremely susceptible to the disease when the proper methods are not in place to prevent airborne transmission, she said.

Students at the event said the event addressed a topic that is not frequently addressed in class.

Van Rie stressed the fact that although the risk of TB can be reduced for health care workers, it cannot be completely eliminated.

“The global burden of tuberculosis is ever-increasing despite the fact that it is a preventable disease,” she said. “Right now, tuberculosis is a losing ­— not winning — battle. Young people need to be active in the field because they can definitely play a role.”

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