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Public health officials confirm two cases of multi-drug resistant TB in Northeast Georgia

By B.J. Williams
Posted 5:02PM on Thursday 1st February 2018 ( 6 years ago )
Two cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis have popped up in Hart County in Northeast Georgia. 
 
Nancy Nydam, the Director of Communications for the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed Thursday that the department's TB Program is assisting with an investigation of the two cases. A third case under evaluation was cleared, according to Nydam.
 
"What we typically see in Georgia in an average year is two cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis," Nydam said. "In this case, the two confirmed cases are actually family members, so that's not unusual."
 
The third person who was cleared was someone close to the family, Nydam said.

DPH officials are also in the process of screening individuals, including children, who may have been in contact with the two people infected with drug resistant TB; those screenings include blood test and chest x-rays.

She said while tuberculosis is an airborne illness, it typically involves people who have been in close contact with one another and is not spread through casual contact.

Nydam said DPH also has alerted hospital emergency departments and health care providers that may see patients from Hart, Franklin or Stephens Counties as a precautionary measure.

"The symptoms of TB can very often mimic other things, and right now we're in the middle of a widespread flu season, so we want to make sure that the healthcare providers,the hospitals who are seeing patients that might come in think about tuberculosis, think about MDRTB," Nydam said.

DPH said signs and symptoms of multi-drug resistant TB can include:

For general information about TB, visit the CDC website https://www.cdc.gov/tb/default.htm.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/2/631869/public-health-officials-confirm-two-cases-of-multi-drug-resistant-tb-in-northeast-georgia

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