AHS expanding screening for tuberculosis exposure at Fort McMurray daycare

FORT MCMURRAY – Today, Alberta Health Services (AHS) will be expanding screening for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) exposure at a Fort McMurray daycare, which was first announced on November 20, 2017.

This is the routine process for management of all TB cases. Tracing begins with the closest contacts, and then expands to additional secondary contacts if evidence of exposure is found in the first round of tracing.

 Screening will be expanded to include 55 individuals: 45 children (five years of age and older) and 10 daycare staff members.

Following initial screening in November, four cases of latent TB infection have been confirmed. Individuals infected with TB have inactive TB germs in their lungs, they do not have symptoms and are not contagious. They cannot spread TB infection to others.

No secondary cases of infectious TB have been identified. AHS is expanding screening as a precaution to ensure all potential contacts receive assessment and screening.

There is no ongoing risk of exposure to the general public. There is also no ongoing risk to the daycare staff or attendees. Only those notified by AHS are considered exposed to this case.

Though this case is not a risk to the general public, we are informing the public of our case followup today, as a matter of transparency.

Our TB Services and Communicable Disease Control Teams, together with our Medical Officer of Health and pediatric clinicians, are working collaboratively to complete the followup screening that is routine in response to any potential exposure to a case of active infectious TB.

We thank these teams and their support staff for their swift and comprehensive response. These efforts are in keeping with our commitment to high quality care, and exemplify our values of excellence and safety.
 
So as to protect patient and family confidentiality, no further case details will be released. AHS will not release the name of the impacted daycare, as all impacted daycare attendees and staff are being notified directly and there is no risk to other individuals.

For general information on TB, please click here.