A Northwestern University doctor-in-training has potentially exposed hundreds of patients, including infants, to tuberculosis while making rounds as a pediatric medical resident at three area hospitals over the last 10 months.
The pediatric resident initially tested negative for the disease before beginning clinical rotations at Northwestern Memorial, Children’s Memorial and Evanston hospitals, said Kathleen Keenan, a spokesperson for Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. It is likely that the 26-year-old female, whose identity could not be disclosed by hospital officials, contracted TB in between the annual health screenings that health care workers must pass before being allowed to come in contact with patients, Keenan said.
The resident was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago on April 3 and has been discharged on treatment. All of her immediate family members tested negative for the disease, said Tim Hadac, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Public Health.
“She has responded well to the treatment,” Hadac said.
TB is an extremely infectious bacterial infection that most commonly affects the lungs but can spread to many other parts of the body, said Muthu Vaduganathan, a first-year graduate student at the Feinberg School of Medicine. The telltale signs of TB include chronic cough, night sweats, fever, chills and weight loss. The presentation of symptoms is “fairly consistent” across all TB patients.
The resident was screened for TB and tested positive after displaying all of the above symptoms, Vaduganathan said.
The infection can be detected by a tuberculin skin test, commonly known as a PPD test. The method checks for the TB antibodies in the patient, which, if present, indicate a tuberculosis infection. These screenings are mandated by all health care facilities, Vaduganathan said.
TB is potentially fatal if left untreated, but severe cases are rare in the United States compared to those in developing countries, he said.
The resident most recently worked at Children’s Memorial Hospital, where she may have come in contact with 150 children and 300 staff members from Nov. 20 to April 3. Those who might have been exposed during that time window have been notified and are being offered free testing for the disease, Keenan said.
“So far, we’ve had negative testing of workers,” she said.
The 193 employees and the parents of 80 babies who were in the neonatal intensive care unit at Evanston Hospital between Feb. 11 and March 12 were all contacted by Saturday, said Amy Ferguson, senior director of Public Relations at the NorthShore University HealthSystem. As of Monday no one had tested positive for the disease.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where the resident worked between Nov. 3 and Nov. 19, has determined that 16 patients may have been exposed to TB, according to a press release.
Keenan said patients should feel safe at all three hospitals despite the recent events.
“There is no risk of exposure (to tuberculosis) here or at any of the other institutions,” Keenan told the Daily over the weekend.
Hadac added that the situation is a “cause for concern, but not a cause for alarm” and expressed his confidence in all three hospitals.
“All three institutions are operating responsibly and with an abundance of caution,” he said. “I wouldn’t describe this as an emergency situation.”