| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2019 | Volume
: 12
| Issue : 4 | Page : 181-184 |
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Latent tuberculosis infection among medical students in Malaysia
Maha Abdullah, Ummi Nadira Daut, Siti Aishah Daud, Nor Afifi Mohd Romli, Marsitah Abdul Jalil, Noorelina Muhammad, Safarina Mohammad Ismuddin, Masriana Hassan
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Correspondence Address:
Masriana Hassan
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor
Malaysia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | 3 |
DOI: 10.4103/1995-7645.257119
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Objective: This study aimed to determine prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection among medical students and tuberculosis exposure at the health facilities.
Methods: A cross-section of study year 1 (n=68) and year 5 (n=75) medical students in a local university were recruited for latent tuberculosis infection testing using QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus and a questionnaire analyzed for multivariate risk.
Results: The majority of the study were vaccinated with BCG. None of year 1 medical students were positive for latent tuberculosis infection, however, six (8.0%) year 5 students were tested positive for latent tuberculosis infection. A higher incidence of year 5 medical students claimed to be exposed to tuberculosis at health facility (65.3% vs. 4.4%) and a higher percentage reported contact with tuberculosis case over the preceding year compared to year 1 students (30.7% vs. 8.8%).
Conclusion: We observed a higher incidence of latent tuberculosis infection and higher exposure to tuberculosis in health facilities among year 5 medical students. Baseline screening and monitoring for progression to tuberculosis infection may benefit tuberculosis management programs.
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