State authorities announced Friday that the recent outbreak of tuberculosis in Atlanta area homeless shelters has infected 47 people total, including two volunteers, and led to three deaths. The shelters, located in Fulton County, have not been named.
Tuberculosis is is a highly contagious lung disease which is airborne, spreading when infected victims cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air. For those of you keeping score at home, yes, that means it is much more easily spread than the Ebola virus which has been getting recent headlines. 1.5 million deaths were associated with the disease worldwide in 2010, mostly in developing nations. In the U.S., there were 9,588 new cases of TB reported last year according to the CDC.
The good news is that TB is highly treatable, though it does require a long term process of maintaining antibiotic use. If the antibiotics are taken regularly as prescribed, tuberculosis has a very low mortality rate. The long duration of the management process though means that if a patient stops taking the antibiotics before completely healed, the disease can become resistant and therefore much more difficult to deal with going forward. The current strain in Atlanta is proof of this, being resistant to common treatment Isoniazid, though it is curable via other antibiotics.
TB thrives in homeless populations, where poor sanitation and infection control allows the disease to spread quickly. Officials have, however, indicated that there is no need for concern among the general public.
