San Diego County public health officials on Tuesday were working with two agencies that offer aid to homeless people to notify those who may have been exposed to tuberculosis.
The dates run in two one-month blocks at Father Joe’s Villages’ Paul Mirabile Center and for about two weeks at the San Diego Rescue Mission South County Lighthouse. Officials are contacting residents, employees and volunteers who were at the sites on the relevant dates.
The dates of potential exposure at the Paul Mirabile Center, on Imperial Avenue, are from Feb. 14 to March 18 and from April 6 to May 7.
The dates at the Lighthouse in National City are from March 28 to April 11.
“There is no evidence of an outbreak at this time or that previously announced exposures at shelters operated by Father Joe’s Villages are related to the above-mentioned exposures,” according to a statement from the county.
Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan, the county’s public health officer, said that symptoms of tuberculosis include persistent cough, fever, night sweats and unexplained weight loss.
“Most people who become infected after exposure to tuberculosis do not get sick right away,” he said. “This is called latent TB infection. Some who become infected with tuberculosis will become ill in the future, sometimes even years later, if their latent TB infection is not treated. For people who think they may have been exposed, blood tests and skin tests are an effective way to determine an infection.”
TB is an airborne disease that is transmitted from person-to-person through inhalation of the bacteria from the air. People with frequent and prolonged indoor exposure to a person who is sick with TB should get tested.
According to the county, people experiencing homelessness are at increased risk for TB for a variety of reasons. These include a higher risk for exposure to another person with active TB in crowded settings, challenges regarding access to healthcare and the presence of medical conditions that may be more common and/or severe among those without shelter.
In the region, most people who are diagnosed with TB have not been recently homeless, yet the rate of the disease is much higher among people on the streets.
TB cases in the county have been on the rise since 2020, when there were 193 cases. That increased to 201 the next year, 208 in 2022, 242 in 2023 and 247 people last year.
Health officials estimate that 175,000 people in the county have latent TB infections and said that without treatment, 5% to 10% of those people are at risk of developing active disease.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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