{"id":497,"date":"2024-04-04T19:15:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T19:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/?p=497"},"modified":"2024-04-04T19:15:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T19:15:34","slug":"breaking-tuberculosis-cases-jump-at-us-migrant-shelters-health-officials-on-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/news\/breaking-tuberculosis-cases-jump-at-us-migrant-shelters-health-officials-on-alert\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Tuberculosis Cases Jump at US Migrant Shelters, Health Officials on Alert\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>United States: <\/strong>Chicago Health Department officials confirmed a &#8216;small number&#8217; of tuberculosis (TB) cases among migrants, intensifying contact tracing efforts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chicago Department of Public Health (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicago.gov\/health\" title=\"CDPH\">CDPH<\/a>) reported cases in &#8220;a few different shelters&#8221; without disclosing specific numbers or locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, associate professor of medicine, Infectious <a href=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/news\/biologics-for-inflammatory-bowel-disease-ibd-most-effective-in-mild-to-severe-cases\/\" title=\"Diseases\">Diseases<\/a>, and Global Health at the University of Chicago, noted, &#8220;These outbreaks happen in close quarters, people living close to one another,&#8221; as per fox32chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the outbreak, Dr. Hazra urged the public not to panic, reassuring them that state health authorities have the situation under control.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added, &#8220;The people most at <a href=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/news\/mpox-cases-doubles-in-us-vaccination-crucial-for-high-risk-groups-cdc\/\" title=\"risk\">risk<\/a> of tuberculosis are the other migrants living in that shelter.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This follows reports of over 55 measles cases in Chicago, with the majority linked to the migrant shelter on Halsted Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: Tuberculosis breaks out at Chicago migrant shelters following measles cases.<br><br>The confirmed tuberculosis cases come as\u00a0more than 55 measles cases have now been confirmed in Chicago, with the\u00a0majority of those cases being reported in the Pilsen migrant shelter\u00a0on\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RKIDKgPqJN\">pic.twitter.com\/RKIDKgPqJN<\/a><\/p>&mdash; I Meme Therefore I Am \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@ImMeme0) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ImMeme0\/status\/1775898099820724679?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 4, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No TB Vaccine Available\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike measles, TB lacks an effective vaccine. Dr. Hazra emphasized, &#8220;There is no effective <a href=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/physical-health\/covid-and-assisted-living-getting-the-vaccine-first-creates-safe-environment\/\" title=\"vaccine\">vaccine<\/a> against tuberculosis.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>TB is highly infectious, primarily attacking the lungs, as reported by fox32chicago.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Gary Reschak, a pediatrician at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, explained, &#8220;It can only be spread by someone with active tuberculosis disease. Someone who is actively coughing up these droplets \u2013 that is how it gets spread.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Reschak highlighted that open-air facilities, like shelters, can facilitate increased transmission, emphasizing the importance of identifying and treating individuals with active disease.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, CDPH noted in a Wednesday briefing that about 10 to 20 percent of people in Central and South America have latent TB infection, which is not transferable to others.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Hazra explained, &#8220;Not everyone who acquires TB will develop an active <a href=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/news\/the-invisible-shield-exposes-crucial-but-neglected-aspects-of-american-public-health\/\" title=\"infection\">infection<\/a>. A percentage of people will actually develop what we call a latent infection. But that latent TB can then reactivate to become active TB at some point in the future.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"BREAKING: Tuberculosis Cases Jump at US Migrant Shelters, Health Officials on Alert. Credit | AP Photo\/Erin Hooley\" class=\"wp-image-501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-450x300.jpeg 450w, https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM-780x520.jpeg 780w, https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-04-05-at-12.38.36-AM.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">BREAKING: Tuberculosis Cases Jump at US Migrant Shelters, Health Officials on Alert. Credit | AP Photo\/Erin Hooley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He further added, &#8220;They can still receive anti-TB therapy to make sure that latent infection is fully eradicated.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What does the health department have to say?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacob Martin, who is the spokesperson for the health department, said annually, 100 to 150 infection cases are <a href=\"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/news\/measles-outbreak-in-several-us-states-linked-to-florida-reveals-govt-report\/\" title=\"reported\">reported<\/a> in Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, he mentioned, &#8220;I would not characterize this as an outbreak,&#8221; and, &#8220;It&#8217;s relatively in line with what we expect to see.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, he said, &#8220;We are literally always pushing to get more people vaccinated. With these vaccine-preventable diseases, we can prevent their spread with vaccines,&#8221; as nbcchicago.com reported.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago health experts confirm migrant TB cases, emphasizing vaccination gap compared to measles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[43,75,39,26,137,138,36,135,136,40,64,22],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterhealthyworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}