WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A health alert was announced by the officials of Long Beach, California after tuberculosis outbreak was confirmed in the city.
'As of April 29, 14 cases of TB disease have been associated with this outbreak; nine people have been hospitalized at some point in their illness; and one person has died,' the city officials stated in a press release.
The officials said that the outbreak occurred among residents of a single-room occupancy hotel in Long Beach, though they refrained from naming the private establishment.
Meanwhile, City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis noted that 170 people were exposed to the disease, which mostly includes people with 'significant barriers to care, including homelessness and housing insecurity, mental illness, substance abuse and serious medical comorbidities.'
The health officer assured that people who had been present in the hotel at the time of outbreak will be screened. And if any resident, tests positive for tuberculosis, then they will be provided with free treatment, temporary housing, food, and transportation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tuberculosis kills nearly 1.6 million people every year.
Tuberculosis, caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, spreads through droplets of a patient's sneeze or cough, and spreads with prolonged exposure especially by living in a crowded or less ventilated room.
The disease develops slowly in two stages. In the initial stage, the patient suffers from low fever, cough, and fatigue. Later in the latent stage, the bacteria spread to lungs and other parts of the body, developing symptoms like fever, chills, cough, coughing up blood, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, and chest pain.
In 2023, the tuberculosis cases rose by 16 percent, to 9,600 cases across 40 states in the U.S., CDC reports.
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