Risk of tuberculous infection among house staff in an urban teaching hospital.

Physicians in training in our medical center were found to have a higher risk of tuberculous infection than other hospital employees. Their annual tuberculin conversion rate was 3.96%; in two of the 15 recent converters, active disease developed. There is a significant linear relationship between the acquisition of tuberculous infection and the duration of training in an urban teaching hospital. Their compliance rate to annual tuberculin testing and chemoprophylaxis is less than 50%.