Southwestern Indiana is not a hot spot for tuberculosis — but the disease is not unheard of here, either, according to state statistics.
Earlier this week, Waupaca Foundry announced that an employee at its Tell City foundry had been diagnosed with active tuberculosis. Waupaca did not name the patient, but said the person lives in Perry County and is currently on medical leave and receiving treatment. The company also said that employees who had direct contact with the patient are being screened for the disease.
So far this year, 85 confirmed cases of TB have been reported around the state, said Indiana State Department of Health spokeswoman Jennifer O'Malley.
Because of health privacy laws, O'Malley said, the state can only provide current case counts in counties with five or more reported cases.
Only two counties have five or more confirmed cases, O'Malley said: Marion County has 38 and Allen County has six. The remainder of the 85 cases are scattered among other counties.
According to the state department of health's 2014 tuberculosis report, in Southwestern Indiana last year only Vanderburgh and Warrick counties reported any active TB cases. Each of these counties reported between one and four cases. No cases were reported last year in Posey, Gibson, Warrick, Pike, Dubois, Spencer and Perry counties.
In comparison: Marion county had 50 active TB cases reported last year, the highest of any county in the state. A total of 108 cases were reported statewide.
TB is a bacterial disease that can spread through the air when an infectious person sneezes, coughs or talks. Symptoms include a bad cough that lasts longer than two weeks; coughing up blood; chest pains, fatigue or weakness; fever; weight loss and appetite loss; night sweats; and chills.
About 10 percent of people infected with the TB germ will later develop active TB disease. Only those with active TB disease are contagious.
A positive skin test for TB means that a person has been infected with the germ, but it does not mean the person has an active case of TB.
"What's important is that people understand that difference," O'Malley said.