Some 2,400 cancer patients may have been exposed to tuberculosis. The patients were treated during the past year at the Arizona Cancer Center at the University Medical Center North in Tucson, officials said.
The TB exposure was a result of patients possibly being exposed to another cancer patient suffering active TB, said county health officials, who will start the testing this week.
The unidentified female TB patient was in outpatient cancer treatment at the cancer center from January through August, while her tuberculosis went undiagnosed and untreated.
Man's TB triggers vast investigation
At first, the news that a Beaverton worker was infected with tuberculosis was unusual but not alarming.
Yet as Washington County health officials began to investigate, they soon realized they faced a "perfect storm": The man had highly infectious mucus in his lungs. He kept going to work. And he worked in a large, open call center with a highly mobile work force.
The "index person" had potentially exposed more than 1,600 people to a serious bacterial disease.
Now, nine months later, the Stream call center case has turned into the largest disease investigation county health officials can recall. The cost is $60,000 and counting. Health workers don't expect to wrap up their detective work for 11/2 years as they try to track down and complete evaluations for 900 more people.
Ping to MamaDearest’s post no. 1400 regarding TB articles.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1919875/posts?page=1400#1400
Those numbers are truly beyond words. Thanks for the ping.