San Diego County's Tuberculosis Program is working with Father Joe's Villages Thursday to notify residents, employees, contractors and volunteers potentially exposed to tuberculosis at the Father Joe's Joan Kroc Center.
The dates of potential exposure are from Oct. 13, 2023, to March 13, 2024. This notification is not associated with a separate TB exposure that occurred in November 2023 at a different shelter operated by Father Joe's Villages, a county statement read.
TB is an airborne disease that is transmitted from person-to-person through inhalation of the bacteria from the air. The bacteria are spread when someone sick with TB coughs, speaks, sings or breathes. People with frequent and prolonged indoor exposure to a person who is sick with TB should get tested.
"Symptoms of active TB include persistent cough, fever, night sweats and unexplained weight loss," Dr. Wilma Wooten, county public health officer, said in a statement. "Most people who become infected after exposure to tuberculosis do not get sick right away. This is called latent TB infection. Some who become infected with tuberculosis will become ill in the future, sometimes even years later if their latent TB infection is not treated. Blood tests and skin tests are effective in determining whether someone has been infected."
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According to the county, people experiencing homelessness are at increased risk for TB for a variety of reasons. These include a higher risk for getting infected in congregate settings, challenges regarding access to healthcare and the presence of certain medical conditions that may be more common and/or severe among people experiencing homelessness.
While the rate of TB is much higher among people who have experienced homelessness, among cases in San Diego County, 90% of people who are diagnosed with TB have not been recently homeless.
Taking medicines for latent TB infection can cure the infection and keep these people from ever getting active TB disease.
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According to the health agency, there were 192 TB cases in the county in 2020 and 201 people reported with active disease in 2021. In 2022, 208 people were reported with active TB disease in San Diego County.
An estimated 175,000 people in San Diego County have a latent TB infection and are at risk for developing active TB without preventive treatment, health officials said. People who test positive for TB, but who do not have symptoms of active TB, should get a chest X-ray and talk to a medical provider, as they may likely have a latent TB infection.
Anyone who would like more information on this potential exposure should call the county TB Control Program at 619-692-5565.
