April 17, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
250 Screened for TB After Scare
By Olivier Uyttebrouck, Journal Staff WriterState health officials are screening 250 people in Clovis and Albuquerque for tuberculosis after they were in contact with a health care worker diagnosed with the disease.
Department of Health officials said the case does not pose a public health threat because tuberculosis is transmitted only by prolonged exposure in a confined space.
Officials said medical privacy laws prevent them from identifying the health care worker or any institutions where the person worked.
"Casual contact is not sufficient to transmit TB," said Steve Jennison, medical director of the state's infectious disease bureau. Tuberculosis can be spread by the sputum of an infected person.
The individual does not appear to have a drug-resistant form of the disease, Jennison said. The person will remain under quarantine until treatment renders the disease noncontagious, he said. The diagnosis was made late last week.
The person worked in several institutions in Albuquerque and Clovis, including hospitals and medical clinics, Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil said.
"We're lifting every rock to find anybody who may remotely have been affected," Vigil said. The agency has tested 73 people and found no evidence of infection, he said.