TB found in Grant County

Two patients confined to home

GRANT COUNTY - Two Grant County residents are being treated for tuberculosis, according to the Grant County Health District.

Health District Administrator Peggy Grigg said one case was reported in August and another was reported in September.

"Nothing that we've seen so far appears to relate them," Grigg said.

Treatment takes anywhere from 6 months to a year if the treatment is successful and if they take the medication, she said.

"The patient is confined to the home, and when we go in there, we wear a mask," she said.

The health district is using directly observed therapy, in which they witness the patient taking their medication. When a patient has to take a medication for a long period of time, missing doses can be easy, she noted.

Both patients are adults. One is a senior citizen, and the other is younger, she said.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, tuberculosis is spread when someone with tuberculosis coughs or sneezes and a non-infected person breathes in the air. Not everyone who is infected shows symptoms, and those without symptoms or sickness cannot spread tuberculosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Those with active tuberculosis may experience symptoms including a severe cough lasting at least three weeks, chest pain, the coughing up of blood, and the coughing up of phlegm from the lungs, according to disease control.

Other symptoms include weakness, fatigue, loss of weight, lack of appetite, chills, a fever, and sweating during the night, according to disease control.