A tuberculosis outbreak in Minnesota is now the largest in the country infecting 17 people and killing six.
Fourteen of those who contracted the disease are from the elderly Hmong community, with 10 of those cases believed to have spread through shared activities at a senior center.
Of the six deaths, three have been a direct result of tuberculosis or TB.
Though TB is treatable with antibiotics, this particular strain is more difficult to fight because it is multi-drug resistant.
A tuberculosis outbreak in Ramsey Country, Minnesota, has infected 17 people and killed six
‘When you have multi-drug resistant disease what that means is the organism that’s causing the TB is now resistant to at least two of the usual drugs that are used, so it’s not that you can’t treat it, but it’s going to take second-line drugs,’ Kris Ehresmann, Director for Infectious Disease told Fox9.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing concern in the US as it sickens more than two million Americans each year and causes about 23,000 deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Drug-resistant bacteria can come from overusing antibiotics, taking them when they aren’t necessary or eating meat treated with antibiotics.
Tuberculosis spreads slowly. Unlike Minnesota’s measles outbreak earlier this year, transmission of tuberculosis requires repeated exposure with people who are infected.
According to Anne Barry, director of St Paul-Ramsey County Public Health, one of the Hmong community members had been sick and infectious for five years before being detected in 2016, sending public health officials scrambling to find everyone who is at risk.
Minnesota has a large Hmong population, an indigenous community from Asia. Ehresmann added: ‘It’s really important that they’re aware of the situation and attentive and monitoring what’s going on with elders.’
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that mainly affects lungs and is easily contracted as it is spread through the air when someone infected talks, sneezes or coughs.
Those diagnosed with latent TB, meaning you show no symptoms and can’t pass it on, are urged to take antibiotics to prevent the infection from becoming active.
Symptoms of active TB include coughing up blood, weight loss, fever, fatigue, and chest pain.
The drugs used to treat this specific tuberculosis strain are harsher because they come with more side effects and will require extra time and money.
A normal case of tuberculosis costs about $17,000 to fight, but when fighting multi-drug resistant disease, it can cost upward of $134,000.
Minnesota is using $225,000 in emergency funds to limit the spread of the disease and Ramsey County has funded additional public health workers.
Last year, Minnesota had 168 cases of tuberculosis. This year, there have been about 160 cases.