Tuberculosis found in medical center worker in Las Vegas

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 9:29 a.m.

Federal and local health officials are investigating a case of tuberculosis discovered in a person working at a Las Vegas medical center.

"We found an active case in one worker," said Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District.

Up to 250 people may have come in contact with the infected person, so all will be tested for the bacteria, which can be treated with antibiotics, Sizemore said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is joining the local investigation because the person worked in a medical facility, Sizemore said.

"This is a medical facility and we have to find out if there was any immune-compromised person who came in contact (with the infected person)," Sizemore said.

Between 100 and 120 cases of TB are reported in Nevada each year, state epidemiologist Dr. Randall Todd has said.

This year 37 active cases of tuberculosis have been detected and treated in Las Vegas, Sizemore said.

There were six cases discovered in August, she said.

Last year two people developed active tuberculosis in the farming community of Amargosa Valley in Nye County, about 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

In May 2000, about 1,600 Las Vegas high school students were tested for the disease after a 15-year-old student was found with an active case. About 80 students tested positive for TB antibodies, meaning they had been exposed to the disease, but they did not have an active form of it.

Those who carry the disease, known as having latent TB, have a 10 percent chance of developing an active case, but once they take medication, there is only a 1 percent chance of the disease becoming active.

Left untreated, tuberculosis can kill slowly by destroying the lungs. A person with active TB has symptoms including respiratory difficulties, fevers, night sweats and other flu-like characteristics.