The TB patient at Stanford Hospital improving

A 30-year-old Sunnyvale woman being treated at Stanford Hospital for a multi-drug resistant strain of tuberculosis is improving and in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Barbara Bickerman said today.
The woman's illness set off nationwide search for people who were on the same flight when she flew from India to Chicago. She then flew to San Francisco on Dec. 13.
She later was admitted to Stanford Hospital. Forty four fellow passengers were located in 16 states.
Multi-drug resistant TB is a form of the respiratory bacteria that is no longer treatable by some antibiotics.
But the illness can still be treated, according to Santa Clara County Health Officer Marty Fenstersheib said. TB is contagious only if an individual has active symptoms. And fellow airline passengers only need to be concerned if they shared a flight eight hours or longer with someone with active symptoms, according to the World Health Organization.
02/01/08 Don Kazak/Palo Alto Online, USA

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Categories: Foreign Jan 2008