The Beacon News ran an inaccurate newspaper article yesterday about Hesed House and TB. This email is to clarify. The Beacon ran a Correction today, but we are afraid that no one reads corrections.

The article says that the Health Department is "using the Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora to house TB patients." This is not true. Hesed House staff is helping the health department to serve homeless patients on TB medication who have been relocated to off–site locations in Cook County and rural Kane County. All individuals at Hesed House that have been identified with active contagious TB have been IMMEDIATELY moved off–site to more appropriate treatment settings.

The article states that workers "recently found another TB-related case." While this is technically true, it fails to mention that this individual was identified before his TB became contagious. He was immediately removed from Hesed House for appropriate care. This situation actually highlights how well the massive screening efforts are working, that we are able to identify individuals before they become contagious.

And finally, the article says that "those working with infected people, such as Hesed House staff, are at risk for catching TB, but that the public is in no danger." This is a poorly worded sentence. The Health Department, using CDC and WHO guidelines, are recommending testing for any individual who spends more than 8 hours per week at Hesed House. Under those guidelines, we are working with the health department to test residents, paid staff and volunteers who spend more than 8 hours per week at Hesed House. The Health Department is not recommending testing for "ordinary" monthly volunteers.

For context, according to CDC guidelines, if a person with active contagious TB is on an airplane ride they do not test other individuals on the airplane unless the trip was over 8 hours, and even then they only test individuals who were within two rows of the patient.

We continue to be grateful for all the enormous efforts of the 6,000 volunteers who serve at Hesed House. We are also very grateful to the Kane County Health Department for all of their experience and insight.

If you have any questions relating to TB, please contact the Health Department at (630) 264–7650. If you have any questions relating to Hesed House, my direct line is (630) 914–6424.

Peace,
 
ryan