The system is working with Denver Public Health and the Center for Occupational Safety and Health to screen staff that had contact with the patient prior to TB diagnosis. “At this time, only staff who cared for the patient sick with TB are believed to have been potentially exposed,” a DPH statement reads.
COSH has already contacted potentially affected staff members directly, but any other Denver Health employee who feels they could have been exposed can also contact COSH for testing, according to DPH.
TB is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the illness is spread through the air to close contacts, according to the CDC.
More articles on tuberculosis:
Are we going back to the future with infectious diseases?
Genomic sequencing can help determine end of a TB outbreak
Boston University lab halts TB research after malfunction
