Health officials in Michigan are notifying an undisclosed amount of patients of a potential exposure to tuberculosis after a healthcare worker tested positive for the disease, reports ABC 12 News.
The healthcare employee works at three pediatrician's offices in Macomb, Rochester and St. Clair Shores affiliated with St. Louis-based Ascension.
Patients who visited any of these locations between April 1, 2019, and Jan. 9, 2020, may have been exposed to tuberculosis.
"While the infection can be serious, not everyone who is exposed to TB will be infected and many people who are infected never develop symptoms," Joneigh Khaldun, MD, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health for the Michigan Department of HHS, said in a press release.
Health officials in Macomb and Oakland County are offering free testing to all affected patients. The employee is on leave and receiving treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. At present, no other employees at the healthcare facilities have tested positive for the illness.