Published Monday | May 5, 2008
Omaha homeless to be tested for TB
BY CHELSEA KEENEY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

An estimated 150 to 200 patrons of the Open Door Mission will be tested for tuberculosis due to exposure from a homeless man who stayed at the shelter in mid-April.

Dr. Adi Pour, director of the Douglas County Health Department, said a man who stayed at the shelter was identified on April 16 with an active case of TB. An active case means the person is infectious.

The man is now under the care of the Douglas County Health Department, said Candace Gregory, director of the Open Door Mission.

Pour said 10 Open Door Mission staff members were given TB tests on April 22. One person tested positive but showed no symptoms. She said that individual was sent for further medical evaluation.

Gregory said she and the staff member were considering it a false positive.

Pour said the Open Door Mission has identified between 150 and 200 homeless individuals who may have had contact with the infected person. She is encouraging them to come to the shelter Monday and Tuesday night to receive skin tests and have their symptoms evaluated.

After 48 to 72 hours, the skin tests will be read and those with positive results will be sent for further medical treatment, she said.

Gregory said staff members were making clients aware of proper hand-washing techniques and sanitation measures as a precaution.

"This is not a normal occurrence with our facility," she said.

In April, one Central High School student tested positive for TB. Since then four Central students and one staff member have tested positive for TB, Pour said.

All but one already had the TB germ and were not infected by the student who initially tested positive, she said. The other person who tested positive was born in a country where TB is common and infection likely occurred outside the United States, Pour has said.

The five have dormant TB, meaning they are not ill and are not infectious.

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