Case of open tuberculosis in Chemnitz
Office for Health and Prevention examines the environment
A nursing student completing an internship in a nursing home in Chemnitz has been diagnosed with open pulmonary tuberculosis.
After the Office for Health and Prevention was informed of the case, the contacts of the affected patient were identified and investigated. These investigations currently involve a total of 75 people. In addition to residents and staff of the nursing home (46 people in total), fellow students and teachers at the nursing school (29 people in total) are also affected. A further 14 people are being tested by the Annaberg health authority.
The blood tests of contact persons have been carried out. Depending on the last contact with the infected person and the results to date, some of the people tested will be tested at the end of February or beginning of March, as tuberculosis infections can usually only be detected in the blood eight to twelve weeks after infection at the earliest.
So far, 23 tuberculosis infections have been detected during the first examinations, 19 of them at the nursing school and four in the nursing home. Six people have been diagnosed with tuberculosis, all other test results have so far been negative. One person with suspected tuberculosis was admitted to a clinic for further diagnosis.
The procedure:
According to the Infection Protection Act, tuberculosis - a bacterial infectious disease - is a notifiable disease. If an illness or death from tuberculosis requiring treatment is detected in Germany, a report is made to the responsible health authority. The health authority investigates the case and assesses the extent to which there was a risk of infection for other people. Subsequently, contact persons are identified and contacted by the employees of the public health department and, if necessary, tested for tuberculosis. If the blood test is positive, further tests are ordered. This is also done in the present case. Until the X-ray results are available, which rule out infectious tuberculosis, or in the case of abnormal X-ray findings, the nursing students are banned from entering care facilities.
Background
Tuberculosis is one of the most common infectious diseases in the world. According to estimates by the World Health Organisation, around ten million people contract tuberculosis every year. Germany is one of the countries with a low incidence rate. A total of 32 cases of tuberculosis were reported in Chemnitz in 2022, with six children affected. Five of the adult patients have since died.