[MCOH-EH] [External] Re: annual medical surveillance

[Wendy Thanassi]

Hello,

1) I believe the APHL guidelines for laboratorians want microbiologists
tested twice a year.
We had long (*months*) and protracted "discussions" about this with NTCA
and APHL when working on the HCP guidelines with ACOEM. The problem was
that there was zero evidence supporting tuberculosis being able to be
spread in the lab; also, some labs were interpreting TB blood tests as
risks (which is not medically possible, of course).
Anyway, it's the rule, but not medically grounded as best we could tell.

2) Since the population you are testing are no risk and all negative (or
they wouldn't be getting tested), you could use either TST or IGRA, just
recognize TST has higher labor costs.

Happy weekend,
W

On Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 11:27 AM Behrman, Amy via MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
wrote:

> We also continue IGRA testing for mycobacteriologists, annually in our
> institution.  Happily, like Mayo, we have not seen occupational conversions
> among this group.
>
> Amy
>
> Amy J Behrman, MD, FACP, FACOEM
>
> Chief, Occupational Medicine
>
> Professor, Perelman School of Medicine
>
> University of Pennsylvania
>
> 3400 Spruce Street
>
> Philadelphia, PA  19104
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces+behrman=pennmedicine.upenn.edu at mylist.net>
> on behalf of Swift, Melanie D., M.D., M.P.H. via MCOH-EH <
> mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
> *Sent:* Friday, November 7, 2025 1:55 PM
> *To:* MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
> *Cc:* Swift, Melanie D., M.D., M.P.H. <Swift.Melanie at mayo.edu>; Sarah
> Osdieck <Sarah.Osdieck at bjc.org>
> *Subject:* [External] Re: [MCOH-EH] annual medical surveillance
>
>
> Hi Sarah,
>
> Yes, we do IGRA surveillance for mycobacteriologists every 6 months. This
> was one of the few areas where we continued surveillance after sunsetting
> most annual IGRA surveillance. When we tested most HCP annually, we tested
> this laboratory group more frequently. However we have not seen any
> occupational conversions among this group despite them handling MTB
> cultures!
>
>
>
>
>
> Melanie
>
>
>
> *From:* MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces at mylist.net> *On Behalf Of *Sarah Osdieck
> via MCOH-EH
> *Sent:* Thursday, November 6, 2025 10:21 AM
> *To:* MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
> *Cc:* Sarah Osdieck <Sarah.Osdieck at bjc.org>
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [MCOH-EH] annual medical surveillance
>
>
>
> *External Email Notice:* This message was sent by someone outside Mayo
> Clinic.
>
> Good morning,
>
> If your hospital microbiology laboratory performs *mycobacterial cultures
> in-house*, does your institution conduct annual medical surveillance with
> TST or IGRA for *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* (MTB) for laboratory
> personnel working in the BSL-3?
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Sarah Osdieck, MSN, FNP-BC, COHN-S
>
> System Director
>
> Occupational Health and Workers’ Compensation
>
> Sarah.osdieck at bjc.org
>
> Cell (314) 620-7621
>
> BJC Occupational Health Services - Home (sharepoint.com)
> <https://bjc.sharepoint.com/sites/BJCOccupationalHealthServices>
>
>
>
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