Minnesota: St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Doctor Has Tuberculosis

A St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic doctor diagnosed with tuberculosis may have exposed patients and health care workers to the disease, Minnesota health officials said Friday. The doctor's name was not released.

Patients hospitalized at two hospitals in Duluth, Minn. -- St. Mary's and Miller-Dwan -- between Nov. 1 and Dec. 3 may have had contact with the ill doctor, said Beth Johnson, an SMDC spokesperson. On Dec. 4, the hospital notified Minnesota's Health Department of the contagious patient. He had not returned to practice by Friday, Johnson said.

As many as 90 patients came into contact with the TB-infected doctor shortly before or after the physician's symptoms, which included a phlegmy cough, emerged in early November. However, only 20 patients -- those with the frequent, close and lengthy contact needed to spread the bacteria -- will be asked to be tested for recent infection, said St. Louis County epidemiologist Larry Sundberg. It is not yet certain how many SMDC employees had close enough contact to be considered at risk for an infection, Johnson said. If tests turn up positive, doctors may prescribe a nine-month course of antibiotics to kill the bacteria.

Meanwhile, the doctor's illness prompted the health system to move a yearly TB screening from March to February. An estimated 2,500 SMDC employees who work in downtown Duluth undergo the skin test each year, Johnson said, and perhaps two or three test positive for a new infection.

This is the second case of active TB in St. Louis County for 2002. In 2001, there were four contagious infections, with Minnesota reporting 239 cases.

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