Doctor Possibly Exposed Hundreds to TB

April 11, 2009 — -- Barely days old, hundreds of babies in Chicago may already have been exposed to tuberculosis.

"We are investigating a situation in which a physician may have unknowingly exposed patients and hospital co-workers," Dr. Terry Mason of the Chicago Public Health Department said Friday.

"The one thing that makes this investigation stand out is its size and its scope," Mason added.

Officials said the 26-year-old resident, whose name has not been released, was on rotation at three different Chicago-area hospitals for the last 10 months, working with at least 150 children and infants at Children's Memorial Hospital; 100 patients, including 17 newborns at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; and an additional 80 babies at Evanston Hospital's Infant Special Care Unit.

So far, officials said, not a single patient has tested positive for tuberculosis -- although some of the most vulnerable of those exposed may receive preventive antibiotics.

Dr. James McAuley, a pediatrics infectious diseases expert at Rush University Medical Center, said young children are not necessarily more at risk for tuberculosis, but the danger lies in what happens once they're infected.

"Often they will go right from infection to TB throughout the body, including meningitis, which can be very dangerous," McAuley said.

However, tuberculosis is not easy to catch, McAuley said. The disease, mostly spread through coughing and sneezing, requires extended exposure to result in infection.

Once the resident was diagnosed, officials at the affected hospitals immediately took action.

"We are taking this very seriously," said J.P. Gallagher, president of Evanston Hospital.

Staff from all the hospitals involved have identified and notified all patients, families and staff members that might have been exposed.

In addition, Dr. Stanford Schulman, chief at the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Memorial Hospital, told ABC News tuberculosis screenings are available.

"We've offered skin testing and several parents have come today for skin testing," he said.