Guam inmate treated for active tuberculosis
GUAM (Pacific News Center)—All 720 inmates and employees at the Department of Corrections will have to be tested for tuberculosis after a detainee was diagnosed with the infectious disease just recently.
The detainee, according to Public Health Director James Gillan, is in isolation at the Guam Memorial Hospital and is being treated.
The Centers for Disease Control are currently investigating how many people the prisoner at Corrections may have come in contact with during his time behind bars.
DOC Internal Affairs Officer Jeff Limo says the CDC was at the correctional facility yesterday conducting an investigation and as soon as the investigation is complete, they will commence TB testing.
Public Health Director Gillan says he only found out about the case yesterday. He said the inmate in question “has active TB and it’s a fairly serious stage and he’s isolation.”
He adds that they’re “trying now to determine whether it’s multiple drug resistant. So we’re gonna do a lot of work on that and our lab can handle a lot of that specimen.”
