Hospital Notifies Hundreds of Patients of Possible Exposure to Highly Fatal Disease

A hospital in Indiana notified patients that they may have been exposed to tuberculosis, a serious bacterial infection that can lead to death, after a staff member recently tested positive for it.

Clark Memorial Health in Jeffersonville, a city located on the Ohio River, told news outlets Thursday that it sent out hundreds of letters after the staff member tested positive for tuberculosis. Clark County Health Officer Eric Yazel said that the hospital saw a "significant exposure" to tuberculosis, also known as TB and caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium.

“And then we’ve been contacting some individuals at the individual level and monitoring,” Mr. Yazel told the News and Tribune. “It doesn’t look like that exposure is turning into a plot of positive tests … but that’s definitely something that we’ve been responding to from the health department side of things.”

Officials told WKLY-TV that two people tested positive after the July exposure in Clark Memorial. However, other local media outlets have said that no other positive tests have been confirmed.

Clark Memorial Health, in a statement, confirmed that its employee returned a positive test and is now doing contact tracing. It's not clear if the employee is under quarantine.

“We are working closely with the Indiana Department of Health and the Clark County Health Department and are following the appropriate infectious disease protocols, which includes conducting contact tracing to identify and test individuals who may have been potentially exposed. Due to privacy laws, we are unable to provide additional information at this time," the hospital's statement said.

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/hospital-notifies-hundreds-of-patients-of-possible-exposure-to-highly-fatal-disease-5480746