September 24, 2007

Little Rock -- The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) has identified a case of active tuberculosis at a manufacturing plant in Johnson County. The case has been on appropriate treatment for TB and there is no longer any risk of infection. As a precautionary measure and in accordance with its standard TB control procedures, the Department of Health will screen individuals at the plant that might have been exposed to the infected person on Wednesday, September 26th. Screening consists of tuberculin skin tests with chest X-rays of positive reactors.

Having a positive TB skin test with a negative chest X-ray does not mean that the person has tuberculosis disease. It means that he or she has been infected by the inhaled TB germ. This infection is called Latent TB infection (LTBI) and is not communicable. Only about ten per cent of people who have been infected develop TB during their lifespan. LTBI can be treated with medication to prevent the risk of disease development later in life. Chest X-rays are done in positive reactors to evaluate for the presence of active disease.

All positive reactors will be further evaluated with chest X-rays by the ADH TB program.

Dr. Iram Bakhtawar, Director of the ADH Tuberculosis Section, states, “Plant officials have provided excellent assistance to the Department of Health in this investigation. TB was the leading cause of death in Arkansas at the turn of the century. Identification and preventive treatment of contacts has led to a marked reduction of cases in the state. In 2006, there were 102 cases of TB for the entire state.

Questions and Answers

Why is the Department of Health testing? Skin testing is part of a contact investigation, a routine procedure followed by the TB program at the Department of Health. We skin test people who may have been exposed to a person with active TB and are possibly at risk of getting the infection.

What if I am screened and have a positive skin test? A positive skin test does not mean that you have active TB – only the presence of latent infection (the germ is present in the body but not causing disease). In such cases, the individual is not contagious (he/she cannot spread the disease to others).

How will I know if I will need follow-up with an x-ray and/or medicine? You will be contacted by the Department of Health. Only those who have a positive skin test will need follow-up.

What is TB? TB is a disease that usually affects the lungs, but it can affect virtually any part of the body. It is spread through the air by people who are sick with disease in their lungs, but not by those with only a positive skin test.

Is TB Dangerous? Treatment with modern drugs is very effective. Almost everyone who has proper treatment gets well. Most people who do not get well are people who do not cooperate in taking their medicine correctly, or they are people who are very sick with other serious illnesses.

How do people get infected with TB? You get sick by spending time indoors with a person with TB in the lungs and breathing a germ into your lungs. It ordinarily takes prolonged or repeated exposure for a person to get infected. Practically all transmission of TB takes place before the person with TB is identified as being sick. Once identified, the patient is isolated until no longer contagious. Because of this, once the case of TB is recognized, danger of transmission is past.

Do people who get infected with the TB germ always get sick? No. Only one out of every ten people who gets infected will ever get sick. Nine out of ten will never get sick, and the only way to tell that they are infected is to do a tuberculin skin test. People who are not sick and have a positive skin test have latent TB infection (the germ is in the body but not causing disease).

How long does it take after someone becomes infected to get sick with TB? It can take a few months to many years.

Can I Catch TB from someone with a positive skin test? No. To transmit TB, a person must be sick with TB in the lungs. A person with a positive skin test has latent TB infection and cannot transmit TB.

Why do you treat people who have positive skin tests but are not sick? We treat them so they will not develop TB in the future. This preventive treatment has been a major factor in our success in reducing TB in the United States.

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