Health officials in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area are asking
hundreds of parents to have themselves and their children tested, after a
mother and her two children died of bovine tuberculosis at a neonatal intensive
care unit, earlier this year.
Babies, family members, and hospital staff who were at Summerlin
Hospital Medical Center's neonatal unit between May and August, 2013, are being
tested, according to health officials with the Southern Nevada Health
District. So far, some 26 people have
tested positive for infection, though most of these are latent, which means
that the people infected are neither contagious nor do they show symptoms.
Bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium
bovis) is a close relative of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, which causes human tuberculosis. While it typically infects cattle, it is
capable of jumping species and can infect a wide range of mammals. It is not uncommon for humans to contract the
disease, especially when they are in close contact with infected animals such
as cattle or pigs. The disease is also known
to infect coyotes, deer, domestic cats, foxes, llamas, opossums and rodents. It rarely infects sheep and horses.
It can be transmitted in a number of ways; including by inhaling
aerosols, such as from the cough or exhaled air of an infected animal; or
through contact with sputum, urine, feces or pus. Symptoms include coughing, chest pain, fever
and fatigue.
Health officials said they believe that the woman contracted
the disease by eating or drinking an unpasteurized dairy product from Latin America. The 25-year-old mother was sick before she
gave birth to extremely premature twins in Las Vegas in early May. One of the babies died three weeks later of
respiratory failure and extreme prematurity, without having been tested, according
to the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner.
The second child was tested and received treatment, but died
on August 1.
Meanwhile, the mother’s conditioned worsened and she was
transferred to a hospital in southern California for “a higher level of care,”
according to a report from the health district.
She died there, from what an autopsy revealed was tuberculosis
meningitis.
According to media reports, officials from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention assisted in the investigation until last week. It was not known if they ceased participation
because of the U.S. government shutdown or for some other reason.
Tuberculosis can be fatal, if not treated properly. According to the CDC, there were 569
tuberculosis deaths in the United States in 2010, the latest year for which
data are available.
The disease saw a resurgence in the late 1980s and early
1990s, as strains resistant to multiple antibiotics developed. However, since 1992, the disease has had a
steady decline in the U.S., and in 2012 reached the lowest level of reported infection since 1953, when reporting began.
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