News
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center: Hundreds of Newborns, Mothers and Employees Exposed to Tuberculosis
Published
7 years agoon

SAN JOSE — In a stunning announcement that has South Bay mothers of newborns reeling, Santa Clara County officials on Friday said hundreds of babies, mothers and employees may have been exposed to a nurse with tuberculosis at Valley Medical Center’s mother and infant care center.
As a result, those who came into contact with the nurse from mid-August through mid-November will have to undergo testing for the potentially deadly disease. And as a precaution, all 350 infants born during that period also will be required to undergo a daily oral antibiotic treatment for six to nine months, whether or not they test positive, officials said.
“While the risk of actual infection is low, the consequences of tuberculosis infection in infants can be very severe,” Dr. Stephen Harris, head of pediatrics at VMC, said during a Friday afternoon teleconference.
He said the parents and other family members who may have been exposed are at much less risk than the babies and can be screened in a more routine fashion.
But Harris said the nurse in question — whom hospital officials did not identify for privacy reasons — “is not a very contagious individual” and did not report coughing or sneezing during work.
But Harris said the nurse in question — whom hospital officials did not identify for privacy reasons — “is not a very contagious individual” and did not report coughing or sneezing during work.
“It is still very unlikely that anybody will get infected from their contact with this employee,” the longtime pediatrician said.
TB is spread through the air from one person to another, public health experts say. The bacteria are released into the air when a person with active TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.
Harris said the nurse had undergone her annual TB checkup in September and had tested negative. But in mid-November, he said, the nurse had sought medical care from her doctor for a reason unrelated to work. During a chest X-ray, her physician noted something suspicious in her lung, and she later tested positive for TB.
The nurse reported the finding to the hospital, and she was immediately placed on a paid leave of absence.
Since then, Harris said, all patients, visitors and employees who were potentially exposed have been identified, including 350 infants, 368 mothers and 338 employees.
Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s health officer, said health officials contacted local and state infectious disease specialists seeking an opinion on a course of action and what time period the nurse might have been contagious.
Dr. Lisa Winston, a UC San Francisco professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, said both tuberculosis skin testing and blood tests can be negative in people who have latent TB and people who have active TB.
“It is also possible the nurse contracted TB between September and November,” she said. “But given the short time frame, one might guess that a false negative test is more likely.’
Mothers who were in the hospital’s mother and infant care center during the three-month period are being contacted by phone and getting letters explaining what they need to do, Harris said. They can also call 408-885-3444 to set up their appointment.
Special appointments are being made for screening, testing and to provide medication. Medical staff are also available to answer questions, and all of the testing and treatments will be free.
The news unsettled mothers like Lidia Bermudez.
The 23-year-old San Jose woman gave birth to her first child, Joziah, on Sept. 2, and is scared not only that her son may have contracted TB, but also that he will have to endure months of medication.
“I want to get him in and checked out as soon as possible — that’s my main concern right now,” Bermudez said. “But the part that makes me worried is that he will have to take the medication regardless.”
Harris said he regrets the long period of medication for the babies, but he said that unlike older toddlers and adults — whose TB infection goes into the lungs and stays there — in infants the bacteria could enter their bloodstream.
“That is the danger,” Harris said, “because it can spread to other parts of the body.”
At the St. James Health Center in downtown San Jose, registered nurse Gabe Norwood said Friday afternoon that no mothers who may have been exposed had contacted the clinic yet.
“We’ve haven’t gotten any calls yet, but I’m sure we will,” he said. “I need to read more details about this event, but in general I’d tell them not to panic. There’s a low risk of infection.”
Early symptoms of TB include heavy coughing and coughing up blood, Norwood said.
The nurse said the clinic can test adults and children with a simple “finger prick” blood test to see if they are positive for TB. Getting back the results takes two days, he said.
While there is a vaccine for tuberculosis, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is not widely used in the U.S., but it is often given to infants and small children in other countries where TB is common.
Moreover, the vaccine, called Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), does not always protect people from getting TB.
“TB is rare in the U.S., and the vaccine doesn’t work well,” said Dr. Niaz Banaei, a Stanford University expert in infectious diseases.
Entrepreneur, contributor, writer, and editor of Sostre News. With a powerful new bi-lingual speaking generation by his side, Sostre News is becoming the preferred site for the latest in Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Culture, Tech, Breaking and World News.

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Three Disney World Employees Among 17 Arrested in Florida Child Sex Sting
Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.
Published
2 years agoon
August 4, 2021
Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.
In the operation, dubbed “Operation Child Protector,” undercover officers posed as 13- and 14-year-old children on social media and online dating apps between July 27 and Aug. 1.
The undercovers made contact with each of the suspects before proposing they meet at a location in Polk County, where they were busted.
In total, the arrests led to 49 felony and two misdemeanor charges. Those arrested were aged 26 to 47. All were from Central Florida except for one 33-year-old man from California.
“What you see on this board … are deviants. Incredible deviants,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference on Tuesday, motioning to photos of the alleged pervs. “They travel from as far away as Clewiston, Florida. One even came from Los Angeles.”
“Much to their chagrin, instead of meeting with young children, they were met by law enforcement officers who were online undercover posing as children.”
Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, a lifeguard at Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World, was arrested while still wearing his Disney polo shirt and swimsuit, according to the sheriff’s office.
Aquino engaged in an online conversation on social media with an officer, posing as a 13-year-old girl, authorities said. He then asked the “girl” to send photos, and sent her an explicit video of himself, police said.
Aquino told officers he is a Navy veteran and has a pregnant girlfriend.
Jonathan McGrew, a 34-year-old custodian at Disney World, was nabbed by an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.
McGrew allegedly told the “girl” that he wanted her to come over and have sex with him and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Savannah Lawrence, who also works as a custodian at tourist mecca.
McGrew sent her explicit videos of him and Lawrence performing sexual acts on each other, authorities said.
A rep for Disney World didn’t immediately return a message.
News
China Reports First Human Death from Monkey B Virus
China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.
Published
2 years agoon
July 19, 2021
China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.
He began experiencing nausea, vomiting, fever and neurological issues, and died in May.
Blood and saliva samples were tested and researchers in April found evidence of the Monkey B virus, also known as the herpes B virus.
Researchers said a male doctor and female nurse who were in close contact with the victim tested negative for the virus.
The Monkey B virus is prevalent among macaque monkeys but infection among humans is extremely rare. Since the virus was identified in 1932, just 50 cases have been reported, with the majority of those in North America. Untreated B virus infections in humans are serious, however, with a fatality rate of about 80 percent.
Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, and progress to more serious complications such as swelling of the brain and spinal cord.
Laboratory workers and veterinarians in close contact with the animals are most at risk as people typically get infected with the virus if they are bitten or scratched by an infected macaque, or have contact with the monkey’s eyes, nose or mouth.
But the virus is unlikely to mutate in a way that poses a problem to the general population. Just one case of human-to-human transmission of the virus has ever been documented.
News
U.S. Remembers 9/11 Terrorist Attacks as The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions
Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.
Published
3 years agoon
September 11, 2020
Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.
In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances Friday, one at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner. The Pentagon’s observance will be so restricted that not even victims’ families can attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day.
Trump and Biden are both headed — at different times — to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Trump is speaking at the morning ceremony, the White House said. Biden plans to pay respects there in the afternoon after attending the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is also due at ground zero — and then at the alternate ceremony a few blocks away.
In short, the anniversary of 9/11 is a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the U.S. grapples with a health crisis, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.
Still, 9/11 families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001, shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.
“I know that the heart of America beats on 9/11 and, of course, thinks about that tragic day. I don’t think that people forget,” says Anthoula Katsimatides, who lost her brother John and is now on the board of the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum.
Friday will mark Trump’s second time observing the 9/11 anniversary at the Flight 93 memorial, where he made remarks in 2018. Biden spoke at the memorial’s dedication in 2011, when he was vice president.
The ground zero ceremony in New York has a longstanding custom of not allowing politicians to speak, though they can attend. Biden did so as vice president in 2010, and Trump as a candidate in 2016.
Though the candidates will be focused on the commemorations, the political significance of their focus on Shanksville is hard to ignore: Pennsylvania is a must-win state for both. Trump won it by less than a percentage point in 2016.
Around the country, some communities have canceled 9/11 commemorations because of the pandemic, while others are going ahead, sometimes with modifications.
The New York memorial is changing one of its ceremony’s central traditions: having relatives read the names of the dead, often adding poignant tributes.
Thousands of family members are still invited. But they’ll hear a recording of the names from speakers spread around the vast plaza, a plan that memorial leaders felt would avoid close contact at a stage but still allow families to remember their loved ones at the place where they died.
But some victims’ relatives felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact. A different 9/11-related group, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up its own, simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying there’s no reason that people can’t recite names while keeping a safe distance.
The two organizations also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center and evoke its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus-safety concerns for the installation crew. After the Tunnel to Towers Foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chairman, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.
Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization is encouraging people this year to make donations or take other actions that can be accomplished at home.
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