A nurse may have exposed more than 1,000 people, including 350 infants, to tuberculosis. The nurse worked in the maternity wing of a hospital in California between August and November and was found to have an active case of tuberculosis in mid-November.
An active case of tuberculosis means that the nurse was infectious and potentially could have passed the infection patients, visitors, and hospital staff at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, CA.
Hospital officials said that as many as 1,026 people may have been exposed to the disease, including 350 infants, 308 employees, and 368 parents. All patients, staff members and visitors who may have been exposed to tuberculosis have been identified and the hospital says that it is contacting them.
The infected nurse had tested negative for tuberculosis during an annual check in September and had had no symptoms. The diagnosis was made when her personal physician took a chest x-ray while she was being treated for an unrelated medical condition.
The hospital is offering preventive treatment to the exposed infants. Such treatment includes diagnostic testing as well as a daily dose of isoniazid, which can prevent infants exposed to tuberculosis from developing it, the hospital said. Employees and other patients, including the mothers, will also be screened and receive treatment as needed, hospital officials said.
Diagnostic screenings have begun, but no one has tested positive for the disease as yet, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Tuberculosis is an airborne bacterial disease that spreads when an infected person coughs, sneezes or spits, but only someone with an active case is contagious. Although it typically attacks the lungs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it can also attack the brain, spine, and kidneys. In infants, tuberculosis can be more severe because it is more likely to spread from the lungs to other organs in the body.
There were 9,421 cases of tuberculosis in the United States in 2014, the CDC said. The disease was once one of the largest killers in the United States.
