Protection status among close contacts of sputum smearpositive pulmonary tuberculosis patients

Abstract:

ObjectiveTo investigate protection status among close contacts of sputum smearpositive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients, so as to improve the prevention and control of TB infection.MethodsOnthespot and questionnaire survey were adopted to investigate 125 persons who had close contact with 54 cases of sputum smearpositive pulmonary TB patients.ResultsThe average awareness rate of knowledge about prevention and control on TB infection among family members, colleagues, and classmates of smearpositive TB patients was 65.80%, 74.05% and 70.53% respectively, the average awareness rate among different close contacts had no statistical difference (χ2=3.96, P=0.151）.Of 125 close contacts, the percentage of persons who had implementation of management measures, environmental control (environmental ventilation, disinfection of environmental surfaces, and disinfection of patients’ sputum), and personal protection was 96.00%,64.80%,and 59.20% respectively, the qualified implementation rate of measures was 80.00%,74.90%,and 31.08% respectively; the percentage of implementing measures among different close contacts had statistical difference（χ2=29.32，P=0.002）, the qualified implementation rate of measures had no statistical difference（χ2=1.85，P=0.416）.ConclusionClose contacts of pulmonary TB patients lack selfprotection awareness, protective measures are inadequate, there is a risk of infection, education about prevention and control of pulmonary TB should be intensified.