CHATHAM COUNTY, GA (WTOC) - The latest cases of tuberculosis at the Chatham County jail stem from an inmate diagnosed with Active Tuberculosis back in April.
The Chatham County Health Department, along with the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, started looking for those who may have come in contact with that inmate. When they found two more active tuberculosis cases last month, they called in the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to help out.
CDC, State Public Health, and the Health Department has been working now really closely with the jail administration over these past couple of weeks to develop a strategy to provide a much more intense screening and evaluation process," explained Chatham County Health Department Chief Medical Officer Dr. Diane Weems.
The total number of inmates infected with TB currently stands at 10. The Chatham County Health Department, and the CDC, have created a list of people who may have come in contact with those infected inmates. That list includes all employees, volunteers and contract workers within the jail.
There are more than 1,900 inmates at the Chatham County Detention Center. So when that one case of TB suddenly became 10 last month, Sheriff Al St Lawrence and Dr. Weems, knew they had a big problem. "You look at a jail facility, and you have inmates in confined quarters, in close contact for days and days. That's a high risk setting," Dr. Weems explained.
The health department immediately screened all inmates, including some who have already been released from the jail. "Basically we've developed a list of those individuals who we continue to look for," said Weems. "A lot of those individuals really come in and out of this system. We're also working with the homeless shelters, where some of these other people are in and out of."
"Most of them probably know already whether they've tested positive or not," explained Sheriff St Lawrence.
He believes much of the problem is due to overcrowding at the jail. "I've got 1,524 beds. And and I've got 1,940 inmates in here as of Tuesday morning. So that doesn't help us any," the sheriff added.
But St Lawrence said the TB problem could have been worse. "You're looking at 1,940 inmates, and the small number of cases that we have is a concern to us, but it's not like we've got 200 or 300 in here that have it," he said.
St Lawrence said that when the jail is expanded, there will be a medical unit to treat inmates with diseases like TB, and keep them isolated from the general population.
So far, none of the employees at the jail have tested positive.
Tuberculosis is a pulmonary disease, that affects the lungs. Active TB is contagious. The TB bacteria is spread by coughing, sneezing or even singing. People then breathe in those water droplets from the air.
Weems said people have to be in close quarters with someone for a prolonged amount of time to become infected. In other words, peole can't get it just passing each other on the street.
Sheriff St Lawrence told WTOC The Chatham County Detention Center does screen inmates before they come into the jail. But as Weems explained, the TB germ could be dormant. So the inmate would test negative walking in the door of the jail, only to have it become an active, contagious case later on.
To screen for Tuberculosis, nurses inject patients with a small derivative of TB beneath the skin, usually in a person's forearm. Health officials then wait three days, before looking for a reaction, which is usually a bump, more than 3 centimeters high.
http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=13654031
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Monday, 13 December 2010
TUBERCULOSIS: Georgia: Nine TB cases at jail since April
December 9, 2010
By Dana Clark Felty
Public health officials call in help from the state, CDC to ID, test past and present inmates and staff
Since an inmate was diagnosed with contagious pulmonary tuberculosis in April, nine new cases have been discovered among inmates at the Chatham County Detention Center.
Jail administration and officials with the Chatham County Health Department have called in staff from the State Division of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help determine which current and former inmates could have come in contact with the disease and should be tested.
"Over the past few months, there have been efforts to screen the entire jail population," said Dr. Diane Weems, medical officer for the Coastal Health District and the Chatham County Health Department. "You can imagine how challenging that is with a very transient population. A lot of individuals are in and out of here."
"What we're trying to do is narrow our investigation to those inmates we know have had exposure to one of those cases, beginning with those in the jail. And, then, we'll be following up to find those who have been released and had exposure."
There are about 1,900 inmates currently in the Chatham County jail.
TB is caused by bacteria that usually attack the lungs, but can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine and brain. If not treated properly, TB can be fatal.
The most common way the disease is spread through close contact over time with someone who is infected and exhibiting symptoms, such as coughing or sneezing. It is not spread through touching, kissing or sharing food or drink.
Jail and public health officials are also working to test all employees, volunteers and contract workers at the jail - totaling about 600 people.
About half have been tested. None have been diagnosed with active TB.
Annually, about 10 to 15 Chatham County residents are diagnosed and treated for the disease.
The first case this year was discovered in April at the jail.
Another 100 residents are being treated at any given time for a less threatening, noncontagious form of the disease called latent TB that usually does not produce symptoms.
Even if no more cases are diagnosed over the next few months at the jail, it will remain a high risk environment for TB, Weems said.
"This offers an opportunity to look at processes and where we can tighten up processes," she said.
http://savannahnow.com/1acoastal-empire/2010-12-09/nine-tb-cases-jail-april
By Dana Clark Felty
Public health officials call in help from the state, CDC to ID, test past and present inmates and staff
Since an inmate was diagnosed with contagious pulmonary tuberculosis in April, nine new cases have been discovered among inmates at the Chatham County Detention Center.
Jail administration and officials with the Chatham County Health Department have called in staff from the State Division of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help determine which current and former inmates could have come in contact with the disease and should be tested.
"Over the past few months, there have been efforts to screen the entire jail population," said Dr. Diane Weems, medical officer for the Coastal Health District and the Chatham County Health Department. "You can imagine how challenging that is with a very transient population. A lot of individuals are in and out of here."
"What we're trying to do is narrow our investigation to those inmates we know have had exposure to one of those cases, beginning with those in the jail. And, then, we'll be following up to find those who have been released and had exposure."
There are about 1,900 inmates currently in the Chatham County jail.
TB is caused by bacteria that usually attack the lungs, but can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine and brain. If not treated properly, TB can be fatal.
The most common way the disease is spread through close contact over time with someone who is infected and exhibiting symptoms, such as coughing or sneezing. It is not spread through touching, kissing or sharing food or drink.
Jail and public health officials are also working to test all employees, volunteers and contract workers at the jail - totaling about 600 people.
About half have been tested. None have been diagnosed with active TB.
Annually, about 10 to 15 Chatham County residents are diagnosed and treated for the disease.
The first case this year was discovered in April at the jail.
Another 100 residents are being treated at any given time for a less threatening, noncontagious form of the disease called latent TB that usually does not produce symptoms.
Even if no more cases are diagnosed over the next few months at the jail, it will remain a high risk environment for TB, Weems said.
"This offers an opportunity to look at processes and where we can tighten up processes," she said.
http://savannahnow.com/1acoastal-empire/2010-12-09/nine-tb-cases-jail-april
Monday, 31 May 2010
TUBERCULOSIS: Georgia
VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) –While we don't hear much about tuberculosis, it's still around.
South Health District officials say they see about three cases of tuberculosis per year in Lowndes County.
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=12541910
South Health District officials say they see about three cases of tuberculosis per year in Lowndes County.
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=12541910
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