Conference eyes TB risk in low-prevalence spots
Workshop format should spark good debates
A three-day conference titled "Institutional Tuberculosis Control in Low-Prevalence Areas" will do more than address the topic named in its title, sponsors say.
"No, this is not just a conference about OSHA, but yes, we’re having it in Washington, DC, so there’s really no excuse for OSHA and NIOSH not to come," says Ed Nardell, MD, chief of pulmonary medicine at the Cambridge Hospital of Harvard Medical School and TB control officer for the Mass achusetts Department of Public Health.
NIOSH and OSHA refer, of course, to the Office of Safety and Health Adminis tration, which has been toiling for years to produce a new standard aimed at protecting health care workers against TB, and to OSHA’s counterpart agency at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Scheduled for Dec. 10 through 12, the conference will bring together some 30 experts whose job will be to give short, thoughtful overviews on a variety of topics, Nardell says. Lectures will be grouped thematically and punctuated with roundtable-style discussions. Coupled with a small audience (limited to just 70 people, to be admitted on a first-come, first-serve basis), that format should generate some thoughtful conversations on the subjects of TB risks, worker safety, and government regulation, he says.
Conference sponsors include the American College of Chest Physicians, the Infectious Disease Society of America, and the American Thoracic Society.
OSHA and NIOSH have been invited to take part in the program. Although OSHA is expected to send a representative, the agency’s own rules prevent the representative from doing much more than just listening, Nardell says.
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