Alabama Officials: People at High Risk for TB Haven't Completed Testing

Only seven of the 23 people in Bayou La Batre, Ala., believed to be at high risk for TB after coming into contact with an infected shrimper have returned for a second round of testing, Mobile County health officials said.

The latest tests were scheduled specifically for 23 people who tested negative for the disease in September and October but are still considered at high risk to have TB. The bacteria might not have incubated long enough to show up on the test, said Joseph Jablecki, program manager for TB control with the Mobile County Health Department.

Health officials are still looking for the 16 who were not tested, Jablecki said. Some of the testing was done door-to-door, but most of the 23 could not be located. "We apparently have bad addresses for them, and they may not live anywhere in particular in the first place," Jablecki told the Mobile Register. "But we know some 'hot spots,' hangouts some of them frequent, which I'm not at liberty to name. And we'll keep going door-to-door asking about them."

More than 400 people turned out for testing in Bayou La Batre in September after a local shrimper was found to have a highly contagious form of the disease. The man was quarantined and no longer is infectious. But after the initial tests, 29 high-risk people did not return for additional testing. The department tested 42 people this week, but few were likely to have been exposed to TB by the shrimper.

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