Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/exclusive-patient-extreme-form-tb-sent-nih-n371806
Health
Jun 8 2015, 5:42 pm ET
Exclusive: Patient With Extreme Form of TB Sent to NIH
by Maggie Fox
A female patient with an extremely hard-to-treat form of tuberculosis is being treated at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington D.C., and federal and state officials are now tracking down hundreds of people who may have been in contact with her...
... It's not clear why the patient traveled so much before seeking treatment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
"The patient traveled in April from India to the United States through Chicago O'Hare airport," the CDC said in a statement provided to NBC News.
"The patient also spent time in Missouri and Tennessee. Seven weeks after arriving in the United States, the patient sought treatment for and was diagnosed with active TB."
She was isolated in a suburban Chicago hospital before she was sent to NIH.
CDC and NIH are testing the patient to see what drugs may help her.
"Besides concerns about community contacts, the patient flew from India to the United States. CDC will obtain the passenger manifest for that flight from the airline and will begin a contact investigation. Although the risk of getting a contagious disease on an airplane is low, public health officers sometimes need to find and alert travelers who may have been exposed to an ill passenger," CDC said...
Health
Jun 8 2015, 5:42 pm ET
Exclusive: Patient With Extreme Form of TB Sent to NIH
by Maggie Fox
A female patient with an extremely hard-to-treat form of tuberculosis is being treated at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington D.C., and federal and state officials are now tracking down hundreds of people who may have been in contact with her...
... It's not clear why the patient traveled so much before seeking treatment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
"The patient traveled in April from India to the United States through Chicago O'Hare airport," the CDC said in a statement provided to NBC News.
"The patient also spent time in Missouri and Tennessee. Seven weeks after arriving in the United States, the patient sought treatment for and was diagnosed with active TB."
She was isolated in a suburban Chicago hospital before she was sent to NIH.
CDC and NIH are testing the patient to see what drugs may help her.
"Besides concerns about community contacts, the patient flew from India to the United States. CDC will obtain the passenger manifest for that flight from the airline and will begin a contact investigation. Although the risk of getting a contagious disease on an airplane is low, public health officers sometimes need to find and alert travelers who may have been exposed to an ill passenger," CDC said...