Q: Should a patient of urinary tuberculosis be placed in a negative pressure isolation room? Can the urine aerosols be inhaled during normal emptying of the urinary catheter/drainage bag, if standard precautions (gloves) are used?

A:You need not be apprehensive as the mode of transmission of genito-urinary tuberculosis is not that simple and would not happen as you mention until the patient has associated open pulmonary tuberculosis and even such patient cannot transmit disease so easily to a normal and healthy person unless it is a very close and long term exposure.