Highlights
- •Mentally ill patients are at increased risk of tuberculosis.
- •Maintaining awareness of tuberculosis in psychiatric patients is necessary to avoid diagnostic delay.
- •Active approach is necessary in adopting infection control measures in psychiatric institutions.
As tuberculosis incidence decreases, the possibility of overlooking the disease increases,
especially in vulnerable populations. We describe here a major tuberculosis outbreak
among mentally ill patients in Croatia, focusing on 1 regional hospital where most
patients were hospitalized. The outbreak emphasizes the vulnerability of mentally
ill patients to tuberculosis infection and the complexity of infection control measures
in psychiatric institutions. The awareness of tuberculosis in these settings should
be maintained to interrupt prolonged exposure and avoid unnecessary infection.
Key Words
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References
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: October 18, 2016
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
