Southwestern Oklahoma has unusually large tuberculosis outbreak

Saturday, March 23rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A man sick with tuberculosis for eight months started an outbreak that has infected 100 people in three southwestern Oklahoma counties, health officials said Friday.

About 30 of those who are infected likely have active cases of the disease, while others have skin infections, said Dr. Jon Tillinghast, tuberculosis control officer for the state Health Department.

All of the patients _ who live in Jackson, Tillman and Comanche counties _ are receiving medicine that should cure the disease and prevent it from becoming active if it hasn't already, he said.

Health officials normally deal with about one tuberculosis outbreak each year in Oklahoma, but the number of people infected during the outbreak is usually fewer than 10.

``This is more than what we usually see,'' Tillinghast said. ``It's really just a matter of completing adequate therapy. It's treatable. It's curable. It's preventable.''

The state Health Department and the three county health departments tested more than 600 people after the man who started the outbreak was diagnosed, Tillinghast said. The man moved to Oklahoma from another state to live with relatives, then stayed with family members in the three counties during a span of several months.

The man was diagnosed with active pulmonary tuberculosis in July 2001 _ after he had been sick for eight months. During a previous trip to the emergency room, he was referred to pulmonary specialists but didn't follow through because he didn't have the money, Tillinghast said.

Health Department officials tested everyone they could find who had been in contact with the man, who has since been cured. The man worked in a restaurant for three weeks while he was sick, but most of the 100 people infected were family members and friends, Tillinghast said.

``The fact that he wasn't in one household or one place, that certainly magnified the situation,'' the doctor said.

Health officials said it is standard procedure to undertake a testing initiative after interviewing someone with tuberculosis. Officials have tested the majority of people who might have been exposed to the disease.

This outbreak was unusually large for Oklahoma.

In 2000, just three cases of tuberculosis were reported in Jackson, Tillman and Comanche counties. There were 20 cases in those counties last year.

The entire state had 154 cases in 2000 and 194 cases in 2001, the Health Department said.

Tuberculosis is spread through the air by coughing and sneezing. It is particularly contagious indoors, where the bacteria are suspended in the air for hours, Tillinghast said.

Symptoms include a persistent cough that lasts more than two or three weeks, low-grade fever, night sweats and weight loss.

A small outbreak at Oologah-Talala School District began in November and infected about seven people, Tillinghast said.

About 10 million to 15 million people nationwide have tuberculosis, but only 5 percent to 10 percent of those cases progress to the active, infectious stage of the disease. Children in the United States are no longer vaccinated for tuberculosis.