The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are currently tracking several people who may have been exposed to the tuberculosis virus after a woman traveling from India had contracted the disease.
CDC has recently confirmed that a woman, whose name still remains unknown, has just tested positive of XDR-TB, or extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, after she traveled from India. At least 2 million people in the Asian country have been diagnosed of the disease.
From India, she arrived in the United States via Chicago in April 2015. She also went to two other states, Tennessee and Missouri, before going back to Chicago. About 7 weeks after her U.S. return, she developed the symptoms and was brought to the hospital where she received her official diagnosis.
She was then airlifted to National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, which is more capable of treating extreme infectious diseases. NIH later confirmed that the patient is now being placed in an isolation unit, which is specifically designed for cases such as XDR-TB.
Meanwhile, CDC is coordinating with the local health authorities in tracking fellow airline passengers. Although CDC wants to make it clear that the risk of infection is low since the patient's symptoms appeared way later, they may still have to determine those who might require a TB test. They are currently checking the names in the manifesto.
TB is a bacterial infection that can be contracted through air. Although it can attack other organs such as the kidneys, it is more commonly found in the lungs.
XDR-TB is a rare form of TB disease characterized by its resistance to 4 of the core medications, making it more difficult to treat than regular TB. It may be obtained from an ordinary TB patient who has been inconsistent with the treatment or from a person who is also sick of the same type of TB.
