4-9-2007

A few weeks back, I reported on a case of Tuberculosis at Stream.com ... a Beaverton computer company (check my archives for March and the piece titled "TB Hits Beaverton").

I've been in contact with Dr. Gary Oxman (county health officer) and he is now able to confirm that 12 MORE cases of TB infection have been found at Stream (69 total tests were administered).

TB Disease and TB Infection are two very different animals. You get the infection first and 90% of people never even show symptoms. Oxman says they would NOT know they were infected had they not been tested. You also CANNOT SPREAD TB if you are merely infected, it has to be the full blown disease in order to spread.

When the infection changes to the disease, it is not fatal (you have symptoms like a bad cough for an extended period of time) and can be treated.

Dr. Oxman says the health department is providing 9-month anti biotic treatment to everyone infected. He says those treatments drop the likelihood of developing TB Disease to 2%. And, if you DO contract the disease, it can be treated successfully (Oxman says it is incredibly rare for someone to die from TB in the United States).

In the mean time, more tests will be administered at Stream to determine if there are other cases of infection.

Oxman also stresses that the people at Stream have been very co-operative throughout the process. We should know in May if additional cases are developing or if the spread has been stopped.