State tests 540 for tuberculosis after Hyundai case

A health official said Tuesday the state was testing 540 people for tuberculosis after identifying an infected worker at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama.

Pam Barrett of the Alabama Department of Public Health said testing and evaluations at the Hyundai plant will be completed Tuesday. She said only workers who were in close contact with the infected employee need to be tested.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is an airborne disease that can be spread when someone coughs or even speaks. Symptoms include a bad cough and chest pains. Tuberculosis is treatable and rarely fatal except in cases where the patient has other health problems, Barrett said. "Most of the time TB is secondary (in cause of death), what pushes them over the edge," she said.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama told workers about the testing on Monday and "is following the Alabama Department of Public Health’s protocol for TB testing," plant spokesman Robert Burns said.

Cases aren't as rare as you may think. There were 119 cases of tuberculosis in Alabama last year, Barrett said.

She said confirmed cases pop up "all the time" statewide, including at Honda, Mercedes and other automotive manufacturer facilities over the past few years. The disease is more likely to spread in confined areas and doesn't spread as quickly in plants or large buildings "most of the time," Barrett said.

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Once a case is identified, the state Department of Public Health's Tuberculosis Control Division usually takes over treatment and observation of the patient while also testing anyone who was with them in a closed environment for an extended time.

Not everyone infected with the TB bacteria gets sick. The body is able to halt the infection in most people who breathe the bacteria, so they develop no symptoms and can't spread it to others. They would still test positive for TB and could be treated to remove the latent infection.

You can see more about the disease at cdc.gov/tb.

Hyundai employs an estimated 3,000 workers in Alabama.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.