Apr 11, 2009 9:54 pm US/Central
Locals Concerned About Exposure To TB In Hospitals
Experts: Odds of TB spreading are slim
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A tuberculosis scare has kept Chicago health officials busy. More than a hundred people reached out to a help line set up to field questions and concerns. Many callers wanted to know whether a doctor infected with TB could have exposed patients to the disease.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones was at the call center Saturday and she has the latest on this TB scare.
It's a situation people are talking about on the streets of the city Saturday night. They're concerned over whether the infected doctor could have exposed other patients.
Parents of young children and others have been calling a phone bank all day for answers about TB.
The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) gathered a group of medical experts to take the calls and take notes to give a better picture of just who's concerned they may be affected.
"The object is to get the information out, the correct information out," said CDPH chief medical officer Dr. Susan Gerber.
They stress tuberculosis spreads through tiny droplets in the air we breathe, but that you can't get it just by breathing when you're walking in a crowd of shoppers and you can't catch it by taking the bus.
"No. It's not something that you can catch casually," Gerber said. "In fact, in factors related to spread, it's an accumulated amount of time. It's also degree of closeness over long periods of time. Not good ventilation. I mean these are really important factors."
Tuberculosis is an airborne bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs. At one time it was the leading cause of death in the U.S.
The usual symptoms for infection are weakness, night sweats, weight loss and fever.
The infected resident physician in this case had close contact with the patients on her rounds, including 80 newborns in neonatal intensive care – 20 of those babies are still hospitalized. The 26-year-old Northwestern University medical resident was training at Children's Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Evanston Hospital.
More than 300 patients, some of them babies, their families and the infected resident's co-workers were advised they need to get a skin test for the potentially dangerous disease.
Doctors say at some point the woman was at risk of infecting others. She was involved in things like taking vital signs and physical exams and had close contact with many of the patients.
"This situation is a cause for concern, but not alarm," said Dr. Terry Mason, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. "The case of TB has been identified, isolated and treated."
Those notifications began Thursday.
The Chicago Health Department says anyone who had contact with that woman during the past five months should get tested.
But doctors say the disease is not easy to catch.
"Tuberculosis is not a disease that's transmitted by brief casual contact," said Dr. Stanford Shulman of Children's Memorial Hospital. "The CDC talks about 120 hours of face-to-face contact."
Preliminary testing has not shown that anyone has tested positive yet -- except for the first patient, the physician who was infected.
About 300 staff and 150 patients may have been exposed at Children's Memorial Hospital, Dr. Shulman said.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital released the following in a statement Friday afternoon: "Through an ongoing investigation, we have determined that this situation affected a limited number of patients and staff in Prentice Women's Hospital between November 3 – November 21st 2008, and believe the risk of exposure is extremely low. To ensure the health and safety of all involved, we are contacting individuals that may have been affected and are working with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).
"We are in the process of contacting patients who may have been affected and believe that number to be 17. In addition, we are evaluating another 100 patients who may have received care from this health worker to determine their risk."
But by Saturday night, Northwestern Memorial Hospital issued another release citing the dates of possible exposure at Prentice Women's Hospital were Nov. 3 to Nov. 19. Northwestern says it's contacting 17 patients who may have been affected and is evaluating another 100 who may have received care from the worker.
Aarea residents hearing about the incident are still concerned.
"I wondered did we get our kids their shots? Have they been protected against this?"asked Chicagoan James Morgan.
"Each employee ought to have physicals and have tests done to make sure they don't have any type of viruses or diseases tuberculosis or anything. So I was kind of surprised that this doctor made it through with no one knowing," said one hospital employee at one of the hospitals where the infected doctor worked.
Representatives from all three facilities told CBS 2 testing for TB is standard and that the resident did not test positive in the past. It's still not known how that woman caught it in the first place.
If you have concerns someone you know may have been exposed, the
Chicago Department of Public Health will have staff to answer questions on a hotline: (312) 746-4835. It will be available from 9a.m. to 5p.m. Sunday. Children's and Northwestern say they've been taking their own calls, as well.
Click
here to see information about TB from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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