Another baby tests positive for tuberculosis

The City of El Paso Department of Public Health announced Saturday that a baby born at Providence Memorial Hospital in 2013 has tested positive for TB infection (latent TB).

This is the second child to test positive without having been vaccinated with the BCG vaccine. Four other babies who have received the BCG vaccine have tested positive, but it is not known if these are false positives because of their vaccination.

“While we wish no child would test positive for TB, we did anticipate a positive rate of one percent,” said Robert Resendes, Public Health Director. “With two non-BCG vaccinated positive test results, we are still well below that percentage,” he said.”To the best of our knowledge, there has been no active TB disease discovered in any of the tested babies.”

Laboratory tests conducted by the Department of Public Health indicate that the TB bacterium, at the center of the investigation, is not drug-resistant and will be easily treated with a common antibiotic.

Parents who receive a notification letter are reminded that they should contact the Health Department as soon as possible to schedule an appointment.