A health care provider at pediatric units worked nine months without knowing they had tuberculosis.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is working with southeast Michigan health departments in Macomb Township, Rochester ad St. Clair Shores to determine the health status of patients who may have been in close contact with a health care associate recently diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis.
The person with tuberculosis didn't know they had the disease and continued to work at Lakeview pediatric locations throughout April 1, 2019. and Jan. 9, 2020.
According to the press release, all other associates and providers tested negative for TB, and the person with the disease is receiving treatment and not working.
MDHHS said that anyone possibly exposed to TB is being notified and offered testing at no personal cost.
“TB is a treatable bacterial disease that is spread through the air from one person to another,” Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health for MDHHS, said. “While the infection can be serious, not everyone who is exposed to TB will be infected, and many people who are infected never develop symptoms.”
TB bacteria usually grow in the lungs but can attack any part of the body such as the spine, brain or kidneys.
Symptoms include:
• A bad cough that lasts three weeks or longer
• Pain in the chest
• Coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm from deep inside the lungs)
• Weakness or fatigue
• Weight loss
• No appetite
• Chills
• Fever
• Sweating at night
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