It's every parent's nightmare: their child could be suffering a potentially life-threatening disease. In El Paso, Texas, many parents are definitely having some of the scariest thoughts after their children may have been exposed to tuberculosis infection.
Last week, health officers of the city notified either through a phone call or a letter the parents of more than 700 babies who have been born from September 1, 2013, to August 16, 2014, informing them to have their children screened for TB as soon as possible.
It turns out that a Providence Memorial Hospital nurse in the nursery and post-partum unit was discovered to have been suffering from the disease. Using the guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is also currently working closely with the city health department, the hospital was able to trace it back around the designated period. The nurse is presently on leave.
Although no one really knows how the nurse acquired the illness, it's possible that she acquired it after employee screening, which takes place every year.
Children will undergo a skin test, a procedure that involves injecting a special type of protein derivative into the forearm. Reading takes place around 2 to 3 days after the administration. If the suspected TB patient fails to come back, he or she undergoes the skin test again. To determine whether the patient is positive or not, the doctor then measures the induration or the area that is inflamed, hardened, or raised. The results ignore the site's redness.
Aside from the skin test, children also need to go through an X-ray test to rule out any signs of the infection in the lungs.
All tests are free. If the child has confirmed infection, the treatment will also be at no cost to the parents.
