• Masao Okumura, Atsuko Satoh, Takashi Yoshiyama, Hideki Yanai, Yuka Sasaki, Shoji Kudoh, and Hideo Ogata.
• Department of Respiratory Medicine, Fukujuji Hospital, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association (JATA), 3-1-24, Matsuyama, Kiyose-shi, Tokyo 204-8522 Japan. okumuram@fukujuji.org
• Kekkaku. 2013 Jul 1; 88 (7): 605-9.

Objective And MethodsIn our hospital, we analyzed the clinical factors of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) diagnosed in non-TB wards and the incidence of TB infection among contact patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) using QuantiFERON-TB GOLD (QFT) testing.MaterialThis study included 16 patients who were diagnosed with pulmonary TB in non-TB wards in our hospital from January 2008 to May 2011. Eight contact patients and 120 HCWs were also enrolled.ResultsThe 16 TB patients comprised 11 men (77.7 years) and 5 women (74.4 years). Among them, only 9 patients exhibited positive results for Mycobacterium tuberculosis after the first acid-fast bacterial examination; the other 7 patients presented positive results only after the second or third examinations. Moreover, there were 3 cases of positive Mycobacterium avium samples in the first acid-fast bacterial examination. Among 16 pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis cases, 8 were sputum smear and culture positive, 7 were sputum smear negative and culture positive, and 1 was sputum smear and culture negative. Moreover, 17 days had elapsed from the time of admission to the non-TB ward to diagnosis. TB contact examination revealed that QFT results for 2 HCWs changed from negative to positive.DiscussionWe suspected pulmonary aspergillosis or old TB when presented with cases with a history of TB. Moreover, we believe that the periods from admission to diagnosis were delayed when the first acid-fast bacterial sputum examination was negative or showed non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

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