Prevention of tuberculosis and isolation of tuberculosis patients in health care facilities

Jae Seuk Park

doi:10.5124/jkma.2019.62.1.5

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 62(1); 2019 > Article

Park: Prevention of tuberculosis and isolation of tuberculosis patients in health care facilities

Focused Issue of This Month

Treatment and prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2019; 62(1): 5-10.

Published online: January 21, 2019

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2019.62.1.5

Prevention of tuberculosis and isolation of tuberculosis patients in health care facilities

Jae Seuk Park, MD

Department of Internal Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Jae Seuk Park. jspark@dankook.ac.kr

Received December 19, 2018 Accepted January 08, 2019

Korean Medical Association

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most serious infectious diseases in South Korea. TB patients release Mycobacterium tuberculosis into the air when they speak or cough. Once released into the air, these bacteria remain suspended for a long time, and people in the vicinity of TB patients can breathe the infectious particles into their lungs and become infected. TB is most likely to be transmitted in health care facilities when health care workers and patients come into contact with TB patients who are not adequately treated. Thus, TB infection control measures are required to prevent TB transmission in health care facilities. This review discusses methods of reducing the risk of transmission of TB in health care facilities such as cough etiquette, the early diagnosis and treatment of TB patients, isolation of TB patients and the use of personal respiratory protective devices.

Tuberculosis; Prevention & control; Isolation & purification; Health care facility

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Figure 1

Diagram of facility standard of negative pressure isolation room. Adapted from Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidelines for management and operation of nationally-designated hospital bed [Internet]. Cheongju: Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2017 [11].