Fort Wayne

[NJFFSA16]

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - All 347 of the city's firefighters are
being tested for tuberculosis after some came in contact with a
tuberculosis patient, Fire Chief Tim Davie said.
The Fort Wayne-Allen County Health Department also has asked all
emergency workers - including police officers - to be tested for
the disease every six months instead of annually because of a
recent increase in cases.
The county typically has eight to 10 cases a year. But it has
had 16 in 2003 and 14 so far this year, said Dr. Deborah McMahan, a
city-county health commissioner.
"We are at, I think, the very early stages of this outbreak,"
she said.
Fort Wayne television station WPTA reported Tuesday that more
than 20 firefighters have tested positive for TB.
Fire Chief Tim Davie and city-county health agency spokeswoman
Mindy Waldron said they could not comment on such specifics because
of federal privacy laws.
Waldron said officials could release only patients' ZIP code,
gender and race. She said that most of the cases are black women
with an average age of 36.
Ninety percent of people who are infected have no symptoms and
will not develop active TB, according to the Indiana Department of
Health.
Officials have not identified an active case of TB since late
June, The Journal Gazette reported.
The federal government has provided the county about $200,000 in
grants to battle the disease.
Davie said the TB testing has not caused a staffing problem for
the department.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

APTV 07-28-04 0649EDT

[shznyt]

Not really as big as the media has made it out. *cough* *cough*