NEWS

Greene County sees spike in tuberculosis cases

Stephen Herzog
SHERZOG@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Greene County, which sees about three active cases of tuberculosis each year, is working on six cases of the highly infectious disease — with three of those coming in the last couple of weeks.

Officials don't yet know what's caused that spike, with none of the cases appearing to be related.

Clay Goddard, assistant director of health for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, informed county leadership of the spike at a meeting Friday morning.

"It's hard to know if it's a trend," he said.

While the disease has been mostly eradicated in the United States, it remains a massive problem globally, said Kendra Findley, administrator of community health and epidemiology for the department.

When the department confirms a case of tuberculosis, or TB, a person is given a strict regimen of antibiotics and ordered to stay inside or wear a mask in public to avoid spreading the potentially fatal disease.

The antibiotics, which are free to patients and the health department, have to be taken several times each week, and a health department staffer has to witness the patient take the drugs.

Unlike influenza, which can be spread only through coughing or sneezing on someone, sharing food, or other such close contact, TB can spread through the air, even by an infected person just breathing in the same area.

While the infectiousness of the disease can be under control within a month, the treatment lasts six to nine months, and the antibiotics can be physically hard on people, Findley said.

"But people tend to be compliant," Findley said. "They want to get better."

If a person is not compliant, the health department can legally have a person quarantined — in this case the person would be sent to a facility in South Carolina — but the department hasn't had to do that, Findley said.

People with compromised immune systems are most at risk, Findley said. People with HIV or diabetes or people older than 65 are more likely to contract the disease if they come in contact with it.

She said it's important to get the word out quickly about TB, to keep it from spreading.

That's what happened more than 100 years ago in the United States, when officials got serious about stopping the disease.

Findley said a massive public campaign educated people about the danger, and communities started putting infected patients in special hospitals until they could be treated.

Findley keeps a sort of artifact from that era, a brick that would been placed in the street as a reminder — it says, "Don't spit on sidewalk."

Some parts of the country have reported returns of nearly forgotten diseases like measles or whooping cough because of anti-vaccination campaigns, health officials say.

That's not the case with TB, which isn't vaccinated against in the United States. That also makes it harder to find out why the amount of cases, though small, has suddenly doubled, Findley said.

"I do think it's an anomaly," she said.

TB's symptoms typically include a violent cough, sometimes with blood, sudden unexplained weight loss, night sweats, or darkened urine. Anyone with those symptoms should see a medical professional.

Findley said there are about three cases of TB in every 100,000 people.

For more information, call the health department at (417) 864-1658.

Symptoms of tuberculosis

• Violent cough, sometimes with blood

• • Chest pain

• Sudden unexplained weight loss

• Loss of appetite

• Night sweats

• Fever

• Darkened urine