REDMOND, Wash. — Nearly 150 vendor employees are being tested for tuberculosis after coming in contact with another vendor employee diagnosed with the disease at a Microsoft facility in Redmond, according to King County health officials.
Health officials said after an assessment of exposures, it was determined that the person with TB had contact with the other employees for a long enough period of time that testing for the infection was recommended as a precaution.
People who may have been affected are being notified as Public Health -- Seattle & King County has been at the site to evaluate and test those who were exposed.
Health officials said the person with active TB is receiving treatment, which can take six to nine months to cure. The active disease is said to be readily treatable with commonly available antibiotics, unless it is a drug-resistant strain that requires different antibiotics and may require longer treatment (up to two years).
Health officials said TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that are passed from person to person through the air and is not easily spread. According to officials, it is harder to spread than the cold or flu; however, a person with the active disease in the lungs can spread the disease simply by coughing or sneezing.
TB is known to affect the lungs but can affect other parts of the body.
In King County, there have been 134 new cases of TB disease reported in 2019.
Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s TB website to learn more about the signs, symptoms and transmission.
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