CDC: Seeking those exposed to drug-resistant tuberculosis

(HealthDay)—U.S. health authorities are trying to find anyone who may have had contact with a woman who has been diagnosed with a highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.

The woman flew from India to Chicago in April. She then traveled to Missouri and Tennessee before returning to Chicago, where she sought treatment at a hospital about seven weeks after arriving in the United States, The New York Times reported late Monday.

At the hospital, the woman was diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). On Friday, she was transferred by special air and ground ambulances to a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) hospital in Bethesda, Md. The woman is in an isolation room and the hospital "is providing care and treatment for the patient in connection with an existing NIH clinical protocol for treating TB, including XDR forms," the NIH said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to obtain a list of passengers who were on the same flight as the woman, and is also working with Illinois health officials to identify other people who may have had contact with the woman to determine if they require TB tests, The Times reported. The risk to the public is low, according to the CDC.