At hospitals, patients with tuberculosis are attended by several professionals and among them nursing workers. These workers are subjected to the risk of the tuberculosis infection. This study had the objective of investigating the number of nursing workers in a hospital that acquired tuberculosis in a pre-determined period and their general characteristics; to calculate the morbidity coefficient of this disease and discuss the occupational risk among these workers. In one year, health workers presented 3.86 times greater risk, and, in another year, 1.47 times greater risk. In the present study tuberculosis was considered an occupational hazard for hospital nursing workers.
Tuberculosis; nursing; health workers; occupational hazards