News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Tennessee Department of Health’s Upper Cumberland office reports eight cases of tuberculosis (TB) have been diagnosed this year.
Regional TB Resource Nurse Robin Palmer says although uncommon, the disease is still capable of spreading easily from person to person.
“It is airborne, if [the patient] to cough or sneeze as you’re inhaling, you could get the bacteria in your lungs,” Palmer says. “There’s different types of tuberculosis; you could get it in your eye or in your kidney. The pulmonary or lung tuberculosis is the only one that is contagious.”
Palmer says the signs and symptoms of TB can range from coughing and having a fever, to weight loss or lack or appetite.
“If you’re out in a large population and people are coughing, you’ll want to steer clear of that,” Palmer says. “In short of wearing a mask or something, there’s just no way to protect against somebody that has active TB disease.”
Palmer notes that treatment options are still available for those who are diagnosed with the disease.
“If it’s a TB infection, so they’re not contagious at that point, we either use isoniazid for nine months, or rifampin for four months,” Palmer says, “or there is a three-week treatment called 3HP, but you have to go to the local health department once a week to get that directly observed by a nurse.”
The Center for Disease Control says 128 cases of TB were reported in Tennessee last year, seven of which coming from the Upper Cumberland. Despite the extra case in the region this year, the disease is still considered rare in the United States.
