To investigate the status of medical staff with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in a general hospital, and to analyze the factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and the effective measures to reduce the risk of infection.

Total of 1 086 qualified medical staff in a hospital of Yichang, Hubei Province were collected by cluster sampling method. According to whether exposed to patients with tuberculosis or their secretions, the 1 086 medical staff were divided into the contacted group and the non-contacted group. According to different jobs, they were divided into clinical group, medical group and administration group. All the subjects were detected for tuberculosis T cell spot test (T-SPOT.TB), the positive rates of T-SPOT.TB test among the different groups were compared, respectively.

The positive rates of T-SPOT.TB were 55.03% and 40.29% in the contacted group and the non-contacted group, respectively, with significant difference (χ²= 14.245, P = 0.018). The positive rate of T-SPOT.TB in administration group and medical group were 44.27% and 62.28%, respectively, with significant difference (χ²= 9.803, P = 0.027). The positive rates of T-SPOT.TB were 44.27% and 51.41% in the administration group and the clinical group, respectively, without significant difference (χ²= 2.284, P = 0.063). The positive rates of T-SPOT.TB between the clinical group and medical group was not significantly different (χ²= 6.794, P = 0.038). The positive rate of T-SPOT.TB test of medical staff with different working years in clinical group and medical group were compared, respectively. Among the medical staff with working years < 5, the positive rate between the medical group and the clinical group was not significantly different (χ²= 0.015, P = 0.489). Among the medical staff with working years of 5-15 years, the positive rate of medical group was significantly higher than that of clinical group (χ²= 5.018, P = 0.046). Among the medical staff with working years of > 15 years, the positive rate of the medical group was significantly higher than that of clinical group (χ²= 7.320, P = 0.031). In the clinical group, the positive rate of T-SPOT.TB test between the professional group and the non-tuberculosis group was significantly different (χ²= 4.022, P = 0.036).

The infection rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was related to different careers, the working life and the contaction with the patients. It is important for medical staff and those who engaged in non-tuberculosis clinical medical professional groups to strengthen personal protection and health education.