TB case in Hillsborough County linked to outbreak

Most of the people affected by an outbreak of tuberculosis cases in Jacksonville were in homeless shelters, jails or outpatient mental health facilities.

At least one case did spread to the Bay Area.

Jylmarie Lewis, with the Hillsborough County Tuberculosis Center, says the person was homeless, and once they were positively diagnosed, the county began its investigation.

"We did a full investigation and worked locally to do some targeted community outreach and to this point have not seen another related case," Lewis said.

Lewis said Hillsborough County typically sees around 80 cases of tuberculosis in a year. She says it is a lung disease that is curable.

"If a person is diagnosed and they are able to receive the proper medical treatment, then TB is curable," she said .

But it can be deadly.

"It's when people do not have access to health care or to access to the TB medications or have such a depleted immune system at the time they are diagnosed, that they may die from the disease," she said.

Hillsborough County has not seen another case of TB linked to the Jacksonville outbreak. They were able to determine it's origin because of surveillance the state does to see if a particular strain of a disease or virus is spreading.

"The state has monitoring and surveillance system to be able to look at the types of TB in the state, and we can see if there are any matches within the county or between counties."

The markings on the Hillsborough County case matched the Jacksonville case.

The Jacksonville outbreak is linked to 13 deaths and nearly 100 illnesses since 2004, mainly among homeless people. It's estimated about 3,000 people have been exposed to the contagious disease, but that information was never released to the media.