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TESTS OF MADISON VA HOSPITAL WORKERS NEGATIVE

FOR TUBERCULOSIS -- A worker who had contracted

TB likely caught the illness from a patient who

had not yet been diagnosed with it.

 

 

A previous article on this issue is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
nf07/nfAUG07/nf083007-5.htm

For more on tuberculosis, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=tuberculosis&op=and

Story here... http://www.lacrossetribune
.com/articles/2007/09/08/wi
/05wis0908.txt

Story below:

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Tests of Madison hospital workers negative for TB

By The Associated Press

.
MADISON, Wis. -- Tests for tuberculosis turned out negative for hospital personnel who were checked since a co-worker contracted the potentially deadly lung disease, a doctor says.

Dr. Dennis Maki, an infectious disease specialist at University of Wisconsin Hospital, said the results mean the woman probably wasn’t very contagious.

“This makes us feel pretty good about it,” he said.

The woman cared for patients at University Hospital and Veterans Hospital in Madison.

Officials have declined to identify her or give her job position, citing privacy laws.

When the case was announced Aug. 29, Maki said she had gone home from the hospital and was recovering while being treated with antibiotics.

He said Friday she would not return to work until she has three negative TB tests on her sputum, which can detect the active form of the disease.

She likely caught the illness from a patient who had not yet been diagnosed with it, Maki said.

Maki said it was not known if she has a strain of TB that is resistant to many drugs.

The 42 employees given skin tests will be tested again in about six weeks to make sure they aren’t infected, Maki said.

The 5,000 employees of the hospitals are to be tested next month as part of routine annual screening for TB.

Letters were sent to about 150 patients who may have been exposed at the hospitals and to their doctors.

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Larry Scott  --