Testing begins on up to 350 infants potentially exposed to tuberculosis

Days after it was announced that up to 350 infants may have been exposed to tuberculosis at a Santa Clara County medical center, hospital officials said testing has begun and so far there have been no new cases.

“We’re going to be busy all week,” said Joy Alexiou, a spokeswoman with Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

On Friday, the hospital announced that one of its employees who had worked in the newborn nursery had active tuberculosis and may have exposed hundreds of infants and mothers between August and November.

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The hospital put the employee on leave and has identified the families who were potentially exposed, Alexiou said. Most had been contacted as of Monday, she said. Employees who worked with the employee are being screened and some families have already been tested and received preventative antibiotics, she said.

“While the risk of infection is low, the consequences of a tuberculosis infection in infants can be severe. That’s why we decided to do widespread testing and start preventative treatments for these infants as soon as possible,” Stephen Harris, the hospital’s chairman of pediatrics, said in a statement.

The bacteria that cause tuberculosis are spread through the air from person to person when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Symptoms include a cough that lasts for three weeks or longer, pain in the chest, coughing up blood or phlegm, weakness, weight loss, chills, fever and sweating at night. Some who are infected won’t show symptoms so getting tested is vital, officials said.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center employees are tested annually for tuberculosis. The infected employee in this case tested negative in September and did not show symptoms, officials said. The infection was discovered during an unrelated medical exam.

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