| ■ Hundreds in Oklahoma May Have Been Exposed to TB | 06.09.21 |
| Ten people tested positive for tuberculosis at an Oklahoma medical center and more than 2,000 other patients, workers and members of the public may have been exposed by a sick health-care worker, public health officials said Monday. A letter sent to about 1,650 patients and 350 workers at Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City warned of their potential exposure and urged them to get skin tests for the disease, said Dr. Gene Claflin, medical director of the Oklahoma City-County Health Department. About 250 members of the public have also been alerted, the Associated Press reported. So far, an estimated 600 people have been tested, including all of the hospital's employees. More people are expected to test positive as the examinations continue. The exposure reportedly began with an unidentified female health-care worker at the facility who was found to have the disease Aug. 14 but reported experiencing symptoms six months earlier, the AP reported. The disease is spread when an infected person coughs, shouts or sneezes and spreads germs in the air that are inhaled by others. TB primarily affects the lungs, and symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, low-grade fever, chills and possible weight loss. Health officials said there were 144 confirmed cases of TB in the state last year, while in 2003, 28 percent of all TB cases in the state occurred in Oklahoma County, where the latest outbreak occurred, the AP reported. ----- YahooHealth |