Workplace-based investigation of contacts of a patient with highly infectious tuberculosis--Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia, 2006.
In late April 2006, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) was notified by a local health department of a case of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in a patient with cavitary lung lesions and numerous acid-fast bacilli (AFB) observed on a sputum smear. The patient worked for an office furniture installation company at multiple sites in Maryland, the District of Columbia (DC), and Virginia. An investigation was conducted to 1) determine the extent of TB transmission, including identifying and screening the exposed cohort of contacts, and 2) provide treatment, if indicated, to contacts with latent TB infection (LTBI) or TB disease. This report describes the multijurisdictional contact investigation and summarizes its results. The findings underscore the importance of prompt diagnosis of TB, the value of interjurisdictional cooperation during large contact investigations, and the effectiveness of workplace-based methods for rapidly identifying and screening contacts.
D016358:Contact Tracing; D004219:District of Columbia; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D008875:Middle Aged; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D014768:Virginia; D017132:Workplace