Threat of TB at Tyson denied

An employee of Tyson Foods in Shelbyville has tested positive for tuberculosis, according to complex manager Michael Sheets. The employee has been sent home, while 64 others working in the same department have been given skin tests for the disease. The company has also been educating employees about the disease.

There was no word by 4 p.m. Friday on the skin test results from the 64 others tested.

According to the Merck Manual of Medical Information, Home Edition, a positive skin test for tuberculosis does not necessarily mean that the subject actually has the disease. It may only mean that the subject has been infected at some time in the past. In some cases, a negative test can also be false, in cases where the subject has such a severely defective immune system that he or she does not respond to the tuberculosis-derived protein which is injected during the skin test.

According to Tyson director of media relations Gary Mickelson, the Shelbyville plant has more than 400 employees on the same shift as the employee who tested positive and over 900 employees in total. Mickelson said that tuberculosis is a rare disease, with only 250 cases reported in Tennessee last year. That is down from 383 cases in the year 2000.

The incident is "not an outbreak, but there has been one person to test positive," said Sheets. He said there is no risk whatsoever of contamination as it relates the plant's products.

"In the United States today, tuberculosis is solely transmitted by inhaling indoor air contaminated with [tuberculosis bacteria]," according to the Merck Manual. This would typically require being near a TB victim who is coughing. The bacteria can remain in the air for several hours. The fact that the disease is transmitted only by airborne means rules out transmission by foods or surfaces. TB is most easily transmitted in situations where people are forced to live in close proximity, such as due to poverty.