O-140 THE SITUATION VIS-À-VIS LATENT TUBERCULOSIS INFECTION OF HOSPITAL STAFF AT ENTRY AND POST-CONTACT TO ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS: A STUDY AT A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN THAILAND

Introduction Hospital staff are at higher risk of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), but there is limited understanding of the real LTBI situation among the large hospital staff in Thailand. Objectives: 1) We investigated 1) the proportion of LTBI among hospital workers at entry and after they were prioritized as having had high or medium contact with active TB, and 2) the recent development of LTBI. Methodology: This was descriptive research done on 2,021 hospital staff between 2016-2020. The recent development of LTBI was studied in 416 hospital staff between 2021-2022. The QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus was used to determine LTBI (QFT-Plus). Results The proportion of LTBI among the hospital staff at job commencement was 8.02% (97/1210), compared to 12.5% (101/811) post-contact to active tuberculosis (TB). The 5-year prevalence of LTBI was 9.80% (198/2021). Hospital staff post-contact with TB were categorized as high priority (61.9%), and most index cases were patients (86.9%). No active cases of TB were found following post-contact with TB. 49.9% of LTBI cases were treated with preventive treatments. As for the recent development of LTBI, annual surveillance was reported at 2.4% (10/416), whereas 13.5% (5/37) were found post-contact with TB, and most cases during performance of aerosol generated procedures (AGP). Discussion In Thailand, a program for hospital staff post-contact with active TB surveillance is worth considering. Hospital staff performing AGP should be aware of appropriate respirators. Conclusion The proportion of LTBI among hospital staff in Thailand was not as high as previously reported. Post-contact to TB is worth routine implementation.