Tuberculosis Exposure For California Newborns?

An alarm about tuberculosis exposure was raised in Santa Clara Valley Medical Center at San Jose, Calif. after one of its employees was suspected of having active tuberculosis. This could mean months of treatment for potentially exposed infants.

KTVU reported that the employee who has tuberculosis worked in the area of the newborn nursery. The management stressed that, although it is unlikely, mothers and infants may have been exposed to tuberculosis.

The hospital revealed that, when the officials learned about the employee's case of being suspected with active tuberculosis in mid-November, they immediately advised the employee to take a leave.

To get things under control, the hospital already contacted those who were in the hospital's Mother & Infant Care Center between mid-August 2015 and mid-November 2015.

"We are committed to the safety of our patients and staff," said Dr. Stephen Harris, Chair of Pediatrics. "While the risk of infection is low, the consequences of a tuberculosis infection in infants can be severe. That's why we decided to do widespread testing and start preventative treatments for these infants as soon as possible."

The hospital stressed that while it's "very unlikely that infants who may have been exposed will come down with the disease, the consequences of infection in infants can be serious."

Harris said that not every baby was exposed to the said employee. However, the hospital believes that it should proactively treat 350 infants after they were possibly exposed to the nurse with active tuberculosis, ABC7 News has learned.

"Infants have an immature immune system. They don't necessarily localize the infection to their lungs," Harris explained. "When a baby gets tuberculosis it can, unfortunately, travel into the blood stream and throughout the body."

"The context is babies, that's why the hospital is taking it quite seriously and appropriately so because those babies do need to be carefully evaluated and followed," Santa Clara County Health officer Sara Cody added.

The report suggested that the nurse was diagnosed with tuberculosis after undergoing treatment for an unrelated illness. Harris explained that the employee did not have a cough and she was not coughing during the time she was working.

Tuberculosis is usually spread through the air by coughing and sneezing. Valley Medical Center has already sent letters to affected families and set up a call center to answer questions and concerns.

The chair of Pediatrics recommended that all the babies be treated with a daily antibiotic for six to nine months. The Public Health Department disclosed that Santa Clara County is the fourth county in California with the highest rate of tuberculosis.