TY - JOUR T1 - Late-breaking abstract: Contact investigation in management of newborns after exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a health care worker JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p2713 AU - Malena Aldeco AU - Marina Praprotnik AU - Minca Mramor AU - Dusanka Lepej AU - Manca Zolnir-Dovc AU - Mitja Kosnik AU - Uros Krivec Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2713.abstract N2 - Aims: We report the investigation and management of a group of newborns who were exposed to active tuberculosis from a health care worker.Setting: In September 2010, a nurse midwife working in a maternity hospital was diagnosed with sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis. She had been working for 1 month and during that period she had been in contact with 103 newborns.Methods: Contact investigation was conducted in 100 of the newborns hospitalized in the nursery at that time. Infants were assessed by a pediatrician and tested with tuberculin skin test (TST) and Interferon Gamma Release Assay - Quantiferon-TB Gold in tube (QTF-IT) to detect tuberculosis infection. The first evaluation was conducted 3 to 6 weeks after diagnosis of the index case, followed by the second in October and November 2010 and the third assessment was carried out 6 months after last exposure.Results: All infants were TST negative in all three visits. QFT-IT was positive in one child at first and second visit but were interpreted as unreliable due to high values of the test's negative control. The results of QFT-IT were inconclusive in 5 additional patients. No case of latent TB infection or active TB was detected. Prophylaxis was recommended during the “window-period” to all patients. 70 parents reported full compliance. Mild adverse effects were reported in 36 children, in 2 cases we detected mild elevation of transaminases.Conclusions: Our results suggest that transmission of tuberculosis in maternity hospital setting is very low and that the results of TST and QFT-IT correlate well in infants. In contrast to published data QFT-IT results were undetermined in very few cases. ER -