The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center learned in mid-November that an employee who worked in the newborn nursery was suspected of having active tuberculosis, the hospital said in a news release Friday, and the employee was placed on leave.
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Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that spreads through the air from person to person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and if it is not treated properly, the disease can be fatal.
The nurse received the diagnosis after the September test results were in.
Any mothers or parents and employees who were possibly exposed will be screened and, if necessary, provided treatment. “We also want people to understand that not everybody that was born here from mid-August to mid-November was in contact with this person”. Staff found out the employee was infected after she was evaluated by her doctor for a different medical reason. The cost will be picked up by the medical center, which is owned and operated by the county.
Hospital officials said that as many as 1,026 people may have been exposed to the disease: 350 infants, 308 employees and 368 parents, primarily mothers.
But Dr. Lisa Winston, a UC San Francisco professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist told the Mercury News that various TB tests might not be accurate; both tuberculosis skin testing and blood tests can be negative in people who have latent TB and people who have active TB. A screening for an unrelated medical condition, however, revealed that the nurse has tuberculosis. The hospital’s medical staff is also available to answer questions and all of the testing and treatments will be at no cost. The 23-year-old San Jose woman gave birth to her first child, Joziah, on September 2. “That is the danger”, Harris explains, “because it can spread to other parts of the body”. Harris said that the nurse “is not a very contagious individual” and that she “was not coughing up tuberculosis during the time she was working”.
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Dr. Niaz Banaei, a Stanford University expert in infectious diseases, claims the vaccine is somewhat ineffective. The chair of Pediatrics is recommending all the babies get antibiotics for six to nine months. Here in California, health officials say T.B. Rates are twice as high as the nation’s average because the state receives so many global travelers. Tom?
