Tuberculosis has been found in an employee of a Denver financial services offices, and coworkers are under going evaluation for exposure to the illness, public health officials said today.
The employee of the TIAA-CREF has not been identified, but health officials said that the strain is treatable and poses little risk to the public at this point.
The company’s Denver office includes about 1,600 employees.
“This is the strain that, with medication, the patient will recover,” said Dee Martinez, a spokeswoman for Denver Public Health.
The employee is on home quarantine and is currently under outpatient treatment, Martinez said.
Investigators are checking air ducts in the office as well.
“TIAA-CREF is cooperating fully with the Denver Public Health’s medical review,” Abby Cohen, a spokeswoman for TIAA-CREF’s New York headquarters said this afternoon.
TB is spread by direct contact when a person with an active case in their lungs coughs or sneezes.
The potentially deadly disease is caused by bacteria that usually infect the lungs, but also can affect the kidney, spine and brain. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
TB, once more commonly called consumption, was a leading cause of death in the United States, health officials have aggressive responses to combat outbreaks and have set a goal of eradicating the illness.
Last year the CDC recorded 13,293 TB cases in the United States, or 4.4 cases for every 100,000 residents. The 2007 figure was down 4.2 percent from 2006, according to researchers.
Worldwide, however, TB is a growing concern, reaching its highest level ever in 2006, with 489,139 cases, according to the CDC.
Colorado, with its dry, thin air, was once a haven for TB sufferers, but cases are now rare, according to the Denver Metro Tuberculosis Clinic.
In April an inmate at a Sterling prison was diagnosed with the disease, and in July a grocery warehouse worker in Golden fell ill with in.
Last year a University of Colorado at Boulder research associate in the school of education tested positive for tuberculosis.
Also in 2007, Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker made international headlines after he flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon against the warnings from public health officials. After the trip, he was treated at Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
