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Table 1 Percentage of enrolled students who correctly answered the tuberculosis-related questions, stratified by degree course

From: Knowledge about tuberculosis among undergraduate health care students in 15 Italian universities: a cross-sectional study

Chosen answers

All students (n = 2,200)

Medical students (n = 609)

Nursing students (n = 1,611)

p

TB1 is caused by M. tuberculosis

94.7

99

93

<0.0001

MDR2 -isolates are a current problem for TB control

78.5

91.8

73.4

<0.0001

TB does not affect only the lungs

75.8

96

68.1

<0.0001

TB treatment is problematic and several drug must be prescribed for a long period

75.1

92.7

68.4

<0.0001

The lethality rate of untreated active TB is >50%

66.5

62.2

68.3

0.007

Several TB cases are asymptomatic

59.4

82

51.1

<0.0001

TB vaccine is currently available

87.4

90.4

86.3

0.009

TB vaccine is currently available, but it is not 100% effective

66.3

81.6

60.4

<0.0001

TB vaccine is composed by Bacillus Calmette Guerin

44.2

73.4

33.1

<0.0001

TST3 is aimed at detecting asymptomatic M. tuberculosis infection

88.0

90.6

87

0.02

TST is not a drug

69.7

88.3

62.6

<0.0001

TST is not a vaccine

68.6

87.3

61.5

<0.0001

TST is not a laboratory test

50.9

74.5

41.9

<0.0001

  1. 1TB = tuberculosis; 2MDR = multi-drug resistant; 3TST = tuberculin skin test.