By Kelley Weiss
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-564991.mp3
Kansas City, MO – The health department is investigating Tuberculosis cases found in a Kansas City homeless shelter. KCUR's Kelley Weiss reports.
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Last month two people staying at a local homeless shelter were diagnosed with active cases of Tuberculosis, a bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs. The Kansas City Health Department did TB skin tests on almost 100 people who were in contact with the infected individuals. No one tested had active TB cases.
Ron Griffin, health department division manager for communicable diseases, says the homeless population is susceptible to picking up TB.
Ron Griffin: "Living in close quarters, malnutrition, alcoholism, there are a lot of things that just run the immune system down and people are just more likely to be exposed."
Griffin says the health department will continue to closely monitor homeless shelters for TB to prevent a large outbreak. He says the health department usually treats about 25 cases of TB a year. On average one or two of those patients die from the disease.
Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
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