Bus passengers sought over possible TB exposure

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, June 15, 2001 | 10:24 a.m.

Clark County health officials are looking for passengers of a Greyhound bus from Los Angeles to Las Vegas who may have been exposed to an extremely contagious form of tuberculosis.

A 28-year-old man, whose name not was not available this morning, was a passenger on the bus from Los Angeles that departed at 7 a.m. Wednesday and arrived in Las Vegas at 12:55 p.m. The man had been under an isolation order in a ward at a San Francisco hospital, according to the Clark County Health District. He ran away from the hospital and a warrant was issued for his arrest in San Francisco. He is currently in a locked ward and is receiving treatment in Las Vegas.

Kristin Parsley, spokeswoman for Greyhound's corporate office in Dallas, said late Thursday that the bus drivers and other employees who may have had contact with the man were being tested.

"This is an unusual situation, and we're taking it very seriously," Parsley said.

The man was also a passenger on a Greyhound bus from San Francisco to Los Angeles before boarding for the trip to Las Vegas. The California State Department of Public Health is handling alerts for those communities.

Tracking down the other Greyhound riders could be difficult, because the bus company, unlike airlines, don't maintain passenger lists. People are able to board and disembark anywhere along the route, Parsley said.

Tuberculosis is a potentially fatal disease caused by bacteria. It is spread through the air. People exposed to the bacteria may become carriers but never actually develop the disease themselves, said Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the health district. An infected person without an active case of tuberculosis isn't contagious, she said.

Tuberculosis can usually be cured by following a six-month course of treatment. A simple prick test can determine if a person is infected. Symptoms of active tuberculosis include pain in the chest, coughing up blood, weight loss, fever and night sweats.

There have been 25 reported cases of tuberculosis in Clark County since January, and the yearly average is between 90 and 100. Las Vegas has a higher tuberculosis rate than many other regions because of the large number of people who come to the area from countries where the disease is more prevalent, Sizemore said.