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Active Tuberculosis Case in Bay County
06/24/09 - 04:34 PM
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With the recent cases of swine flu in Bay County, all of us are on alert about how to stay healthy.  Now there’s another disease to report: tuberculosis.

According to the Department of Health, this is nothing to be alarmed about and they are taking measures to make sure it doesn’t spread.  However, it isn’t something that they take lightly and it isn’t as uncommon as you may think.

Hundreds of people are being tested for tuberculosis Wednesday at Bingo Paradise in Panama City, that’s because the person with an active case, spent significant time there.  When a case is reported to the department of health, the testing process is like concentric circles, first the family is tested, then people from work or school, and last the person’s social circles.

So just how common is TB in bay county?

“Every year we average about 12 cases of TB, right now we have 6 cases that we are actively following,” said Kerry Hunt, the director of nursing at the Department of Health in Bay County.

She says while it is serious, there is treatment out there.

“Unfortunately people can die from TB, but it’s something you can get cured,” she said.

There are symptoms you can look for: fever, night sweats, unexplained weight loss, and coughing up blood.

According to the Center for Disease Control’s website, TB is airborne so you can’t get it from shaking someone’s hand, sharing food or drink, or touching bed linens or toilet seats. 

“Just because you have a positive test doesn’t mean that you have active TB or tuberculosis.  It just means that you have been exposed to the germ and it is in your body,” Hunt said.

If you do not have active TB then you are not contagious.  The Department of Health makes sure that the treatment is carried out when a case is reported.  They say they are working to eradicate the disease, and while the number of cases is declining, the speed of decline has slowed since 2003.