Featured White Papers
- Hosted CRM comparison guide (Inside CRM)
- PCI DSS therapy for the smaller retailer (McAfee)
- Fax software and fax services: Making the best choice (Esker)
Content provided in partnership with
WAUKESHA COUNTY
Milwaukee Journal, The, Apr 8, 1995 by Lori Skalitzky
The Journal Sentinel staff
Waukesha Residents and employees of two Waukesha County group homes will be tested for tuberculosis after a worker for the homes began displaying symptoms of the disease, health officials confirmed Friday.
"We have a suspected case of TB, but there is no threat to the public," said Nancy Kind, Waukesha County Public Health Division's interim coordinator and health officer for cummunicable diseases.
Kind declined to name the two group homes where the woman works but said they are located in Pewaukee and Waukesha.
Kind said the woman had been tested, but that results would not be known for about two weeks.
Kind said there were only five confirmed cases of tuberculosis in Waukesha County last year.
Tuberculosis is a serious lung disease characterized by fever and severe coughing. The bacterium that causes the disease is spread by droplets sprayed through the air by an infected Leg 1 ends here person.
However, infection only occurs after prolonged exposure to the bacterium, Kind said.
"We're moving ahead with the testing of the residents and staff because of the family-like situation" the homes provide, Kind said. About 30 people between the two homes will have to be tested, she said.
Everyone in the homes will be tested twice for TB infection, Kind said.
"Evidence of infection may occur four to twelve weeks after exposure," Kind said. "That's why we do a skin test as soon as we know and then three months after the point of possible exposure."
Meanwhile, the woman has been asked to stay at home and is being monitored by the West Allis Health Department. No quarantine has been ordered for the woman or any residents or staff of the two homes.
Health officials cannot order quarantines if individuals are merely suspected of carrying a disease, Kind said.
Leg 2 ends here "No one in the homes and no staff has any symptoms," Kind said. "There's no need for anyone to know (the names of the homes) because there is no threat to the public."
If the woman is determined to have tuberculosis, she will be required to stay in her home for a period of months until further testing determines she is no longer a health risk.
Dozens of people were tested for the disease last year after an infected woman continued to frequent taverns despite knowing she was in the contagious phase of the disease.
Copyright 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
