Medical facilities and other child facilities must conduct tuberculosis screenings on all their new workers within one month of employment, the health ministry said Tuesday, a move aimed at preventing the spread of the contagious disease.

Under a revised ordinance on relevant laws that came into effect, newly hired people at hospitals, healthcare facilities, as well as schools, kindergartens and other sorts of childcare facilities must take TB tests, including those for the inactive variant, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
 

Inactive TB means that bacteria are present in the body but are dormant. The body's immune system can suppress TB for years. Between 60 and 90 percent of inactive TB patients can prevent a TB outbreak if treated.

The revision is aimed at preventing possible TB infection among employees who work closely with infants and children as inactive TB can be dangerous, officials said.

Last year, a total of 118 newborns were infected with inactive TB at an obstetrics clinic in Seoul after a nurse with TB started working at the clinic without being detected.

South Korea has the highest incidence rate of TB among the world's most developed economies belonging to the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2015. A separate OECD report showed that 80 out of every 100,000 South Koreans were infected with the disease in 2015, trailed by Portugal with 23. (Yonhap)