Nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis from unsuspected disease

Health hazard evaluation report: evaluation of exposure to tuberculosis among employees at a long-term care facility (revised).

“…TB disease outbreaks in long-term care facilities have also been reported [Stead 1981;Morris and Nell 1988;Ijaz et al 2002;CDC 2012a]. Consistently, the most important factor favoring healthcare-associated transmission has been close contact with patients with unrecognized active TB disease [Craven et al 1975;Catanzaro 1982;Kantor et al 1988;Pearson et al 1992;Griffith et al 1995]. In our investigation, the TST and QFT-GIT conversions in the residents and employees of the secure access unit are likely attributed to the resident with active TB disease unrecognized until May 2012.…”

Transmission ofMycobacterium tuberculosisfrom a Cadaver to an Embalmer

“…1 Although it was initially reported that tubercle bacilli from embalmed cadavers used for medical-school anatomy classes were not infectious, 8 a subsequent study showed that M. tuberculosis organisms remain viable and therefore infectious for at least 24 to 48 hours after an infected cadaver has been embalmed. 9 M. tuberculosis has been transmitted from cadavers to persons working in autopsy rooms, 10,11 but to our knowledge, there have been no reports of transmission to embalmers. The mode of transmission in this case was probably the inhalation of infectious aerosols gen- The strong epidemiologic and molecular link between the two cases of tuberculosis reported here, as well as the absence of other plausible epidemiologic links, supports the hypothesis that M. tuberculosis was transmitted from the cadaver to the embalmer during the embalming process.…”

Viability of mycobacteria in formalin-fixed lungs

“…[1][2][3] Infection is said to occur through inoculation or aerosolization of mycobacteria during the examination of tuberculous tissues. There are also 2 documented cases of embalmers who have contracted TB during the embalming process.…”