[What do medical students know about the epidemiology of tetanus and tuberculosis in Germany?--A comparison of epidemiologic knowledge regarding a rare and a prevalent infectious disease]

Abstract

A Comparison of Epidemiological Knowledge About a Rare and a Common Infectious Disease: Tetanus and tuberculosis are still worldwide health problems. Due to an increasing number of insufficiently vaccinated persons, mainly in adults, tetanus in Germany requires more and more medical attention. At the same time, due to global migration and an increasing number of immunocompromised patients, the probability of getting infected with tuberculosis is on the increase. For preventing infectious diseases it is necessary to analyse to what extent medical students are informed about the epidemiology of tetanus and tuberculosis in Germany. This knowledge is a mainstay for later differential diagnosis. After completing medical training it is expected that they are capable of diagnosing both diseases properly and that they are trained to inform the population about necessary vaccinations. The following study analysed the incidence estimation of medical students (n = 472) on tetanus and tuberculosis morbidity in Germany. It is obvious that medical students still have gaps in their knowledge about the epidemiology of tetanus and tuberculosis. They overestimated the incidence of tetanus cases per year around 10-1,000 times. In comparison, they underestimated the incidence of tuberculosis. The study shows a distorted assessment of importance of medical problems by the students of medicine. Medical education should consider this and focus more on epidemiology of infectious diseases including tetanus and tuberculosis.