"The San Francisco Public Health Department has launched a large-scale TB contact investigation after a tuberculosis outbreak this week at Archbishop Riordan High School infected at least three students, prompting administrators to cancel classes and basketball games in an attempt to stop its spread. In addition to the three active cases, public health officials have identified at least 30 latent TB infections cases in which people carry the bacteria but are not contagious though experts stress the situation does not signal a broader outbreak."
"Tuberculosis is a bacteria that usually attacks the lungs, infecting the air sacs where they multiply and spread. If the infection is not contained by the body's immune response, the bacteria destroys lung tissue which can trigger chest pain and coughing up of mucus or blood. Eventually, infection can spread throughout the body via the bloodstream, often to the kidneys, liver and heart muscles."
"Andrews said TB outbreaks are infrequent and usually small. The vast majority of people infected with TB have a latent form of the bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis, which remains dormant and non-transmissible sometimes a hibernating infection can lie dormant for decades. The average person, if they're infected with TB, will only have about a 10% lifetime risk of developing the disease, said Andrews."
Public health authorities launched a large-scale contact investigation after a tuberculosis outbreak at Archbishop Riordan High infected at least three students, prompting cancellation of classes and basketball games. Officials identified at least 30 latent TB infections—people who carry the bacteria but are not contagious—and are working to isolate the outbreak before it spreads in the Bay Area, which has relatively high TB rates. Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, destroying lung tissue and potentially spreading via the bloodstream to other organs. Transmission occurs when an infected person exhales bacteria indoors; only about 10% of infected people develop active disease in their lifetimes.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]