Woman with drug-resistant TB visited Missouri
A woman is being treated for a case of tuberculosis has health professionals concerned. The case of TB is resistant to drugs normally used to treat the disease. The woman was briefly quarantined in a Chicago hospital and then flown to the National Institutes of Health, but not before making her way through three states, including Missouri.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial illness that primarily affects the lungs. After the patient recently spent time in Missouri, officials are searching for people she may have had contact with.
“Primarily cough, that’s kind of the hallmark and that can be prolonged, three weeks or longer. Coughing up blood is one of the telltale signs. Night sweats, fever, chills, weakness, fatigue and general malaise,” said Dr. Jason Zerrer.
Health professionals said contracting TB is unlikely. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported that in 2014 out of 162, 642 people in Boone County there were no cases of the TB disease. In Cole County there was one case.
“If somebody is coughing or speaking or sneezing, then tuberculosis can be spread that way. You don’t get it from shaking somebody’s hand you don’t get it from a doorknob or anything like that,” said Zerrer.
The case of TB the woman has is extremely rare. The CDC reports that within almost 20 years, only 63 cases have been reported.
“The high risk-groups tend to be those in close confines. Correctional facilities and those whose immune system is not quite up to snuff,” said Zerrer.
ABC 17 News reached out to the Centers for Disease Control to find out where this woman spent time while in Missouri. The CDC did send an email confirming she was in Missouri but did not mention a specific location.
