CMAJ • February 14, 2006; 174 (4). doi:10.1503/cmaj.1050144.
© 2006 CMA Media Inc. or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
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Letters

Unnecessary exposure?

Steven L. Shumak

Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.

In the informative article by Mithu Sen and colleagues1 concerning neonatal exposure to active pulmonary tuberculosis, some very revealing, and I think irrelevant, details were provided about the index case. The reader learns not only this man's age and occupation, but also his ethnicity, immigration history and specific place of employment. Some of those pieces of information, by themselves, could have led to the identification of the subject. When taken together, they leave no doubt.

Would the scientific value of the article have been compromised by simply stating that this man had emigrated from an area where tuberculosis is prevalent? Would the public health implications have been any less significant had the subject been referred to as a "health care professional working in the neonatal intensive care unit?"

I presume that the physician described in this report gave written consent (as is CMAJ's policy for such matters). Even so, I see no reason why his identity had to be made so transparent.

REFERENCE

  1. Sen M, Gregson D, Lewis J. Neonatal exposure to active pulmonary tuberculosis in a health care professional. CMAJ 2005;172:1453-6.[Abstract/Free Full Text]




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