Review on Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Occupational Hazards and Management of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Elderly: A Guide for General Physicians Working in the Health Network Setting, Khuzestan, Iran

Elderly, due to immunosuppression caused by predisposing factors such as age, drugs, underlying diseases or malnutrition, is a risk factor for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB).Aged patients with PTB because of difficulty in diagnosis remain undiagnosed and acts as a source of infection in occupational space of health service units. General physicians (GP) as health care workers (HCW) are concerned about PTB in elderly both as an important public health problem and as an occupational hazard. A systematic review of the literature on the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis in elderly from 1991 to 2012 using computerized bibliographic databases which includes PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Google scholar and Iran Medex was carried out to increase understanding of tuberculosis in aged patients attending the health care units. Information obtained from previous studies on PTB has yielded better knowledge about this life threatening illness. This information enables GPs and HCWs to provide improved health services including early diagnosis and treatment of PTB in aged patients as well as prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in HCWs at health care units.