An interoperable web-based platform to support health surveillance against latent tuberculosis infection in health care workers and students: The evolution of CROSSWORD study protocol

Background Tuberculosis (TB) prevention is a major goal in teaching hospital setting. Because of the possible progression or reactivation of latent disease, the screening of both health-care workers (HCWs) and students is an important issue in the TB control program. Objective to deploy a web-based platform interoperating health surveillance systems from different hospitals to define models based on the highlighted risk factors to predict the occur- rence of Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) and to define prevention strategies and interventions. Methods This is a cross-sectional ambispective observational study without drug and device. The primary endpoint is the prevalence of LTBI. The secondary endpoint is the identification of possible risk factors of LTBI in a large cohort of HCWs and students. Conclusions This study aims to enrich the primary prevention measures against TB, having a high socio-economic-health impact in high-risk populations (HCWs and students) through an interoperable digital approach based on data obtained in three large Italian teaching hospitals.