Seven refugees with active tuberculosis were resettled in Idaho between 2011 and 2015, but none of them were contagious, the state Department of Health and Welfare said Tuesday.
“While that is accurate (that they had TB), it’s important to note that those refugees were not infectious and could not spread the tuberculosis infection to other people,” DHW officials wrote on the department’s blog. “They all had abnormal chest X-rays, which is typically how they are screened for TB in other countries, but they tested negative for contagious disease in three separate sputum cultures after they arrived in Idaho. Even so, they all received immediate treatment and were monitored by public health officials to make sure any TB would be killed that their lungs might harbor.
”Refugees who are contagious from tuberculosis, the DHW said, are not allowed to leave their country
Via Twin Falls Times-News