- Hello, Jeff - We just discussed the risk of TB on the
US population due to "foreign born" individuals who can infect
people that number in the tens, twenties or more on a daily basis. Well,
here we have a case of ONE intern infecting 1600 or more people.
-
- The CDC needs to call TB an epidemic health crisis.
This epidemic did not have to happen, but did thanks to our 'relaxed' borders.
-
- I guess we can add one more name to people exposed to
TB during visit for health care...me. Listeners to last Wednesday's program
heard that I had been sitting next to a Jamaican who was later diagnosed
with TB. I sat in that waiting room with him for over an hour. As I
also mentioned, the doctor who treated me went back and forth between patients,
namely between the TB patient and myself and one other patient.
-
- When will this end...and isn't anyone concerned? I guess
if we are not going to take control of our borders then we better have
TB testing on regular basis for ALL health care workers.
-
- Again, the experts are doing their best to quell fears
and we hear the same statements to mitigate fears. "No threat to
the general public." "TB is a very treatable disease etc etc"
They did not give percentages on the medicine resistant strains. MDR
TB is NOT so 'treatable'...and is usually fatal.
-
- Exerpt:
-
- Experts said there is no threat to the general public.
"From a physician's standpoint, the statement I would like to make
at the beginning is that TB is a very treatable disease and a relatively
small percentage of people exposed to the bacterium will actually contract
the disease," said Dr. Keith Lewis, of Boston Medical Center.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- From: ProMED-mail
-
-
- About 1600 Patients, Health Care Workers Exposed
To TB
-
- The Boston Channel
6-16-5
-
- State health officials are investigating a tuberculosis
scare that affects several Boston area hospitals. NewsCenter 5's Jack
Harper reported that a surgical intern who's worked at 4 local hospitals
has the disease and hundreds of people may have been exposed.
-
- "We are here today (16 Jun 2005) because the Boston
Public Health Commission has diagnosed a case of active tuberculosis (TB)
in a health care worker who worked at 4 hospitals," said Dr. John
Rich, of The Boston Public Health Commission.
-
- The female intern, who is now on leave and undergoing
treatment, worked at 4 Massachusetts hospitals including West Roxbury Veterans
Affairs Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and Brockton
Hospital. Those hospitals are in the process of assessing who should be
tested at those facilities. "We would estimate that approximately
1600 people might have had contact with the infected health care worker.
That is a large number and most of those individuals will not have any
infection related to this at all," said Rich.
-
- Experts said there is no threat to the general public.
"From a physician's standpoint, the statement I would like to make
at the beginning is that TB is a very treatable disease and a relatively
small percentage of people exposed to the bacterium will actually contract
the disease," said Dr. Keith Lewis, of Boston Medical Center.
-
- "We are working together to ensure that every person
for whom there was any risk of exposure or infection is contacted and has
the appropriate testing and referral that is necessary to reassure them,"
said Rich. Health officials are trying to get in touch with all of the
patients who have had surgery recently, e-mailing them, calling them, and
sending them letters, urging them to come to the hospitals as soon as possible
for free testing.
-
- TB is a disease that usually attacks the lungs, and is
caused by bacteria that can be released into the air by an infected person
who coughs or sneezes. Antituberculosis agents usually are effective in
treating the disease. Once the leading cause of death in the USA, TB has
re-emerged as a serious health problem. In 2004, there were 284 cases
of tuberculosis in Massachusetts -- a 9 percent increase from the year
before.
-
- The biggest problem, experts said, is the active form
can be passed from person to person, although the CDC said quite a bit
of exposure to an infected person is needed. On average, people have a
50 percent chance of becoming infected if they spend 8 hours a day for
6 months with an infected person. Complicating matters more is that not
everyone who gets infected with tuberculosis will know it. The bacteria
can lie dormant for years, without causing symptoms. Symptoms of the disease
include coughing, fever, loss of appetite, night sweats, and feeling extreme
fatigue.
-
- http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4617168/detail.html
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- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
-
- Although the CDC data on transmissibility is often stated,
most clinicians have seen transmission with a much more minimal exposure.
Overall, the risk of acquisition of TB is generally defined not as the
number of secondary cases of active TB -- since activity may not be seen
until years later (see below) -- but rather the number of contacts who
become tuberculin skin test convertors. The risk of skin test conversion
is related to whether the index case has positive sputum acid-fast bacillus
(AFB) smears, the amount of cough, and the degree of direct contact.
-
- Of those contacts who become tuberculin skin test reactive,
about 10 percent of the total will eventually develop active tuberculosis,
usually pulmonary disease. Half of these, about 5 percent, will have active
disease in the first 2 years and the other half, sometime during the rest
of their lives.
-
- If, however, the contacts are profoundly immunocompromised
such as HIV-infected individuals, the risk of active TB is closer to 10
percent per year as opposed to 10 percent per lifetime.
-
- In general, health care workers are screened for latent
tuberculosis infection at the time of the beginning of employment. The
posting does not provide information on whether the intern was tuberculin
skin test reactive upon admission, whether her chest radiograph was initially
abnormal or not, or how long symptoms were present prior to diagnosis.
- Mod.LL
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
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