Clark Memorial Health in Jeffersonville, Ind., is notifying patients of a potential exposure to tuberculosis after one of its employees recently tested positive for the disease, the News and Tribune reported Aug. 22.
The hospital sent letters to about 500 patients who may have been exposed. State and local health officials opened a pop-up clinic offering TB testing for affected patients earlier this month. As of Aug. 22, no patients have tested positive for the disease.
"It doesn't look like that exposure is turning into a plot of positive tests … but that's definitely something that we've been responding to from the health department side of things," Clark County Health Officer Eric Yazel, MD, told the News and Tribune.
Dr. Yazel said patients were exposed to TB over a long period of time, rather than during an isolated incident. The risk to exposed patients is low, and stringent infection control protocols remain in place at Clark Memorial Health.
"We are working closely with the Indiana Department of Health and the Clark County Health Department and are following the appropriate infectious disease protocols, which includes conducting contact tracing to identify and test individuals who may have been potentially exposed," the hospital said in a statement to News and Tribune. "Due to privacy laws, we are unable to provide additional information at this time."