<span id="midArticle_start"/>(Adds details from Illinois health officials)
<span id="midArticle_0"/>By Suzannah Gonzales
<span id="midArticle_1"/>CHICAGO, June 9 (Reuters) - A woman with a rare andpotentially fatal drug-resistant form of tuberculosis visitedIllinois, Missouri and Tennessee this spring, and U.S. andIllinois health officials were working on Tuesday to identifypeople who may have been exposed to her.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>The woman arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airportfrom India in April. She sought treatment for tuberculosis sevenweeks later, had previously been treated for TB in India, andwas in the United States on a visa, officials said.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Now in stable condition and in an isolation room at theNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland, thepatient initially was held in respiratory isolation at asuburban Chicago hospital before being admitted on Friday at theNIH hospital, the NIH and U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), said in statements.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>The risk of contracting the disease on an airplane is low,according to the CDC statement.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>"This is a very serious illness, but it's difficult totransmit," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said in a telephoneinterview. "You have to have prolonged close contact withsomeone with active tuberculosis to get it."
<span id="midArticle_6"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>Illinois health officials have identified about a dozenclose contacts with the patient and are conducting testing, saidstate health department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold. Test resultswill not be available for several days.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases, told WTOP radio in Washingtonon Tuesday that the patient's contacts are being tracked down byIllinois and CDC health officials.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>"People should not be concerned about this," Fauci said.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>The CDC will obtain the list of passengers on the patient'sflight from the airline and close contacts will be tested,Skinner said.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>Tuberculosis is spread from person-to-person through the airwhen an infectious person coughs, sneezes or speaks, accordingto the CDC. People in the vicinity can breathe in the bacteriaand become infected. (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing byMary Wisniewski and Sandra Maler)
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<span id="midArticle_0"/>By Suzannah Gonzales
<span id="midArticle_1"/>CHICAGO, June 9 (Reuters) - A woman with a rare andpotentially fatal drug-resistant form of tuberculosis visitedIllinois, Missouri and Tennessee this spring, and U.S. andIllinois health officials were working on Tuesday to identifypeople who may have been exposed to her.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>The woman arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airportfrom India in April. She sought treatment for tuberculosis sevenweeks later, had previously been treated for TB in India, andwas in the United States on a visa, officials said.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Now in stable condition and in an isolation room at theNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland, thepatient initially was held in respiratory isolation at asuburban Chicago hospital before being admitted on Friday at theNIH hospital, the NIH and U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), said in statements.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>The risk of contracting the disease on an airplane is low,according to the CDC statement.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>"This is a very serious illness, but it's difficult totransmit," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said in a telephoneinterview. "You have to have prolonged close contact withsomeone with active tuberculosis to get it."
<span id="midArticle_6"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>Illinois health officials have identified about a dozenclose contacts with the patient and are conducting testing, saidstate health department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold. Test resultswill not be available for several days.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases, told WTOP radio in Washingtonon Tuesday that the patient's contacts are being tracked down byIllinois and CDC health officials.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>"People should not be concerned about this," Fauci said.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>The CDC will obtain the list of passengers on the patient'sflight from the airline and close contacts will be tested,Skinner said.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>Tuberculosis is spread from person-to-person through the airwhen an infectious person coughs, sneezes or speaks, accordingto the CDC. People in the vicinity can breathe in the bacteriaand become infected. (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing byMary Wisniewski and Sandra Maler)
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