Oct. 1 El Paso Dept. of Health tuberculosis update
The City of El Paso Department of Public Health on Wednesday released new information regarding how many babies have been screened for tuberculosis (TB) or contacted to be screened.
Total event patients contacted 637 or 74 percent
Patients scheduled for Health Department screening *57 percent Completed initial screenings (as of 9/30/2014) 436 Patients with completed screening (as of 9/30/2014) *201
*Patients seen at private practice providers are not yet reflected in this number.
El Paso City/County patients contacted 74 percent
El Paso City/County screenings scheduled 61 percent Patients outside El Paso City/County contacted 77 percent Patients in Mexico contacted 79 percent
Patients testing positive is still 5 (with 4 believed to be false positive due to BCG vaccination)
The Health Dept. says a video has been created and will be shown to families during their initial visit to explain the process of TB screening for babies and infants.
Parents who receive a notification letter are reminded that they should contact the
Health Dept. as soon as possible to schedule an appointment.
In order to expedite the appointment process the Health Dept. asks that the following points be clarified:
There are three numbers that can be used: 2-1-1, (915) 771-1228, or 1-
877-541-7905 For 2-1-1, callers are asked to select their language (1 for English, 2 for Spanish, 3 for any other language). They should then select option 1. The appointment center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
