El Paso hospital TB update: Babies under 6 months old will need medication even if test negative for TB

Sept. 23, 2014 Update: The public health director told ABC-7’s Maria Garcia that in its initial estimate of the number of babies who may have been exposed, Providence hospital left out babies who had been treated for jaundice for more than a day.

The Health Deaprtment noticed the hospital’s error when concerned parents contacted them.

Monday afternoon, Providence added an additional 45 babies who may have been exposed to the initial list of 706, bringing the number to 751.

Sept. 22, 2014 Story: The El Paso Health Department has started screening more than 700 babies who may have been exposed to Tuberculosis by a hospital worker, though it appears more babies whose families have not been notified may also need to be tested.

The infected employee exposed the babies while working at the post-partum and nursery units at Providence Memorial Hospital between September 2013 and August 2014.

I asked the Health Department several questions on Monday about the number of appointments made for screenings, if mothers should be tested and where the test kits were coming from.

But health officials declined an interview.

Providence officials said they began Thursday mailing letters to parents of babies who needed to be screened for the disease.

Though it appears not all parents whose babies need to be tested will be notified.

I had a baby in mid-July and when I called the Health Department on Friday, they told me my son is not on the list of babies who came in contact with the infected hospital employee.

They said they did a thorough investigation and my son did not have to be tested.

But I called again Monday to double check and the Health Department worker told me my son definitely needed to be tested because the sick employee was working the day he was born.

Like other parents, I’ll have to wait until the next available opening, Oct. 8.

It’s unsettling to say the least that they’re not answering a lot of questions from the news media, and the answers I got as a mom changed over the weekend.

The hospital Monday reiterated they take their responsibility to their patients seriously but for parents who have to wait weeks for an appointment to test their children for a dangerous disease, that statement is not enough.

According to the Health Department, the babies will get a skin test, a chest x-ray and a physical evaluation.

For babies six months and older, if all tests are negative they won’t be prescribed medication.

For babies who are younger than six months, even if all those three tests are negative, they’ll still be placed on medications to prevent the development of active TB.

Find out the basics of tuberculosis (TB), including where it comes from and where it goes by watching the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1pllyOaj8