Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

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Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/b...012710.article

Testing for TB under way at Aurora shelter

January 27, 2010
By Andre Salles

AURORA -- A current guest and a prior guest of Hesed House are in the hospital this week with confirmed cases of tuberculosis, according to Executive Director Ryan Dowd.

But the Kane County Health Department has ruled out an outbreak, Dowd said, and tests on every staff member and long-term guest at the Aurora homeless shelter have come back negative.

Dowd said one of Hesed's guests tested positive for TB last week, and Health Department officials immediately began testing everyone who lives and works full-time at Hesed House.

?We are working closely with the shelter to locate the close contacts of the patients for TB screening,? the Health Department executive director, Paul Kuehnert, said in a press release. ?The good news is that out of the 150 clients screened, none of them has tested positive for TB. Our investigation will be ongoing.?

Tuberculosis requires prolonged exposure to incubate, so the Department only tested those who spend more than eight hours a week at the shelter, Dowd said.

Health Department officials initially linked that first case with that of another person who had stayed at Hesed House more than six months ago, but Dowd said Wednesday that the two cases are not connected. Health Department officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.

Dowd is still attempting to contact volunteers who spent prolonged periods of time at Hesed House between October and early January. He said the staff has identified about 30 people who fit that criteria, and letters are being mailed to them shortly.

The Health Department offers TB skin testing at its Aurora and Elgin offices. Call (630) 264-7652 in Aurora or (847) 695-0848 in Elgin to make an appointment.

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Re: Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/b...032310.article

CDC staff in Kane to study TB outbreak

March 23, 2010
By Nick Swedberg

GENEVA ? Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control are in Kane County this week to study the recent tuberculosis outbreak among the homeless population.

Executive Director Paul Kuehnert of the Kane County Health Department gave an update to the county's Public Health Committee Tuesday on the ongoing efforts to treat the seven confirmed cases of TB centered in the southern half of the county.

The health department has provided $15,000 in funding for temporary housing of those diagnosed with TB, Kuehnert said. He added that health officials have not felt a need to involve local schools because none of the homeless children in Aurora's Hesed House shelter have shown symptoms of the disease.

By the end of the week, the CDC officials will come back with a report on how the county should handle the outbreak, Kuehnert said. While here, they will review records, interview those afflicted and visit Hesed House, where the outbreak occurred...

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Re: Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...427,full.story

CDC helping Kane County manage TB outbreak
7 new cases were clients of Aurora homeless shelter

By Ted Gregory, Tribune reporter

8:11 p.m. CDT, March 24, 2010

...The health department, which contacted CDC in January, has documented that all seven cases of TB are homeless people who were clients at Hesed House in Aurora, Kane County Health Department spokesman Tom Schlueter said. The first of those cases of the contagious and potentially life-threatening disease was found in January, he added.

Screenings revealed the latest individuals with TB about three weeks ago, Hesed House Executive Director Ryan Dowd said Wednesday.

"The irony of all this is that it feels like it's winding down," Dowd added.

He said technicians screened clients, employees and volunteers after the first case was detected. Although seven cases are not extraordinary in Kane County, which typically reports about 20 TB cases a year, Dowd acknowledged that seven from one location is "out of the ordinary."

"What makes a homeless shelter unique is that we put a lot of people in one room to sleep," Dowd said.

Many of those people have weakened or stressed immune systems, he added.

"The good news" is that the screenings uncovered two clients afflicted with other maladies, and those individuals are receiving treatment, Dowd said. Screening continues for "anyone who coughs" while at Hesed House, he added.

Those diagnosed with TB have received alternative housing in apartments or motels, Dowd said, and their conditions are monitored to make sure they take medication to treat the disease.

Illinois ranks fifth among all states for the highest number of TB cases, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. But, like the entire United States, the number of cases is declining. Illinois recorded 418 active tuberculosis cases last year, down from 469 cases in 2008, CDC statistics show.

Reflecting another national trend, the majority of cases in Illinois are among individuals born in foreign countries where TB is more common, including Mexico, India and the Philippines, the department said in a release on Wednesday, designated as World TB Day.

Nationally, the number of reported TB cases had been dropping by about 4 percent a year until last year, the CDC's Powell said. Preliminary figures show that the number of reported active cases of TB totaled 11,540 last year, down from 12,904 in 2008.

Enhanced TB control or underreporting of cases or a combination of both may be reasons for the sharper-than-usual decline, Powell said...

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Re: Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/f...100331.article

Hesed House taking precautions against TB
Comments

March 31, 2010
By ANDRE SALLES asalles@stmedianetwork.com

With two more cases reported this month, the tuberculosis outbreak linked to Hesed House continues to grow. But Ryan Dowd, executive director of the Aurora homeless shelter, said that for Hesed, the immediate crisis is over.

Seven TB cases have now been discovered with links to Hesed House, with four of the infected having been diagnosed while staying at the shelter. In January, the Kane County Health Department tested every staff member and long-term resident of the shelter, and every test came back negative, according to officials...

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Re: Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/g...052510.article

Kane officials see funds for TB outbreak
May 25, 2010
By NICK SWEDBERG For Sun-Times Media

GENEVA — The Kane County Health Department asked for more money Tuesday to help test and treat the local homeless population for signs of the continuing tuberculosis outbreak.

The request to draw $65,000 from the county contingency fund comes in anticipation of about 1,000 screenings to be conducted through the rest of the year.

To date, the department has identified 13 cases of TB and seven other suspected cases, all linked to the first two at Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora reported in January.

This money, along with a $184,000 grant, would be used for such things as contractual costs associated with screenings, medications and housing of those diagnosed, said Paul Kuehnert, executive director of the department.

Officials estimate another six active cases will be found by the end of the year, Kuehnert said. Additionally, hundreds of other latent cases — when a patient has the infection but not does not show symptoms — also have been or could be identified by the end of the year.

The County Board Health Committee voted to accept the grant and to recommend the request for more funds to the Finance Committee. The finance panel last week reviewed requests for contingency money from several judicial and public safety departments. The next finance meeting is scheduled for June 20.

"The most important thing we can do is find the cases of TB," Kuehnert said...

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More here: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=383417

Tuberculosis outbreak may push Kane Co. to dip into savings
By James Fuller | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 5/26/2010 12:01 AM

An outbreak of tuberculosis at a homeless shelter in Aurora might now result in Kane County spending an additional $65,000 to prevent the problem from getting worse.

The outbreak was first spotted several months ago at Hesed House. Since then, 13 people exposed to the virus at the shelter have developed the active form of the infection. Homeless people tend to live a high-stress lifestyle that wears on their immune system, making them more susceptible to tuberculosis, said Paul Kuehnert, executive director of the Kane County Health Department...

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Re: Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

Source: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=389505&src=5

Kane Co. hunkering down for long battle against tuberculosis
By James Fuller | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 6/23/2010 12:00 AM

The number of active cases of tuberculosis in Kane County stemming from an outbreak at an Aurora homeless shelter now stands at 17 following a recent screening. The discovery of new cases has health officials preparing for a long period of monitoring to ensure the outbreak doesn't become widespread in the community at large.

A few weeks ago the county screened almost 260 people served by the Hesed House. Test results show 89 people screened had a latent, noncontagious form of the infection in addition to four newly discovered active cases...

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Re: Testing for TB under way at Aurora (Chicago area) shelter

Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/b...100825.article

Active Kane tuberculosis cases remain at 17

August 25, 2010
By ADAM TEDDER For Sun-Times Media

GENEVA -- No new cases in the recent tuberculosis outbreak have been identified in the county since June 29, the Kane County Health Department reported.

The number of active tuberculosis cases has stabilized in Kane County, with 17 remaining, authorities said...

...Last year, there were a total of nine reported tuberculosis cases. This year, the year-to-date total is 24, a significant increase compared to last year at this time, when only six cases were reported...