Tuberculosis outbreak may push Kane Co. to dip into savings

An outbreak of tuberculosis at a homeless shelter in Aurora might now result in Kane County spending an additional $65,000 to prevent the problem from getting worse.

The outbreak was first spotted several months ago at Hesed House. Since then, 13 people exposed to the bacteria at the shelter have developed the active form of the infection. Homeless people tend to live a high-stress lifestyle that wears on their immune system, making them more susceptible to tuberculosis, said Paul Kuehnert, executive director of the Kane County Health Department. Kuehnert appeared before the county's public health committee Tuesday to plead for more money to stop the outbreak from spreading through the homeless population and onto the general public. Tuberculosis can be lethal if left untreated.

The health department plans on screening 200 homeless people every two months for tuberculosis, starting Wednesday with a screening at Hesed House, 659 S. River St. The federal government is kicking in more than $184,000 in grant money passed on by the Illinois Department of Public Health to assist the county in battling the outbreak. However, that won't be enough to cover the costs of the blood tests, X-rays and quarantine housing needed to diagnose and treat people who have contracted the infection.

Kuehnert said his best guess is the county will discover another six people with the active form of the infection and as many as 300 people with the latent version of the infection. People with the latent version are basically carriers of the germ unless and until it transforms into the active version of the bacteria. Treating the latent version is much cheaper (in the tens of thousands of dollars) compared to the active version (in the hundreds of thousands of dollars), Kuehnert said.

Hesed House is also working with the county to improve its ventilation system to help avoid the spread of any further outbreaks. The county is working with all homeless shelters in the area to create better health screening procedures. Kuehnert said the county must remain vigilant about tuberculosis at least until no new cases are discovered for a period of six months. That most likely means the county will remain at a heightened alert for tuberculosis for the next two years.

The public health committee unanimously approved the $65,000 increase Tuesday, but it still must get passed by the county board's Finance Committee. That committee recently denied two budget increase requests from other departments.