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Five infants tested positive for TB after exposure at Texas hospital
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Five infants exposed to tuberculosis at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, Texas, tested positive for the infection, according to a press release.
As of Monday, the number of potentially exposed infants increased from 706 to 853 infants.
Although five infants had positive screening results for TB, four of them may be false positive due to bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination, according to El Paso’s Department of Public Health. There have been no active TB results.
“The El Paso Public Health Department is working closely with the Texas Department of Health Services which is providing the screening and treatment protocols for this investigation. As can sometimes be the case, physicians may not be in total agreement with each other regarding patient treatment. The El Paso Public Health Department will be using Texas State recommendations and protocols which may be different than those in Mexico, New Mexico or those of local physicians. Parents, of course, are free to choose the provider of their choice for their children’s screening and treatment,” Robert Resendes, director of El Paso Public Health Department, said in the release.