At the 2020 Fall TB Controllers Meeting in November, we briefly presented California requirements for Health Care Personnel (HCP) TB Screening and COVID-19 emergency response changes to these requirements.
Licensing and Certification and CalOSHA require routine TB screening of Health Care Personnel in California. Both have temporarily relaxed routine TB testing requirements to minimize potential exposure to COVID-19 during the extended emergency response. Our Health Care Personnel TB Screening resource page, located under “Guidance” on ctca.org, links to these posted changes. Though temporary, we hope that we can move into agreement with national guidance here in CA. The data proves this is the way to progress TB elimination efforts and protect HCP, working on the frontlines. It may be counter intuitive, but data show, routine testing does not provide any protection for HCP. Assessing risk, testing those at risk and treating TB infection provides HCP protection.
Background:
The Centers for Disease Control recommends risk-based testing of HCPl, based on specific job duties and a facility risk. CTCA waited a decade to endorse this change, after looking at HCP TB data. CTCA now enthusiastically endorses and promotes:
- TB testing at hire. IGRA for those with BCG history.
- If positive TB test plus risk for TB, and TB disease is ruled out, recommend treating for latent TB infection to prevent the development of TB disease.
Health Care Personnel TB Screening Information: