The Ventura County Public Health Department believes about 200 people at Amazon’s Oxnard fulfillment center may have been exposed to TB.
The 2.3 million square foot facility handles about two million packages a week and would employ about 2,000 employees.
Of those employees, about 180 people were exposed to the person with active TB, but the Ventura County Public Health Department says there is no danger to the public.
Ventura County Public Health Department Tuberculosis Program staff learned of the employee with active tuberculosis on Monday.
They began working with Amazon management to notify staff of the potential exposure on Monday and Tuesday.
Ventura County Public Health Department official Dr. Robert Levin said all 180 employees are being tested, but he doesn’t believe there will be a large number of isolations or quarantines.
“Our usual approach is to spend a day or two educating all employees and telling them what the concerns should be and answering their questions and we can usually put people at ease. Usually very few people get infected from the index case, what we call the original person who was infected,” Levin said.
“Transmission of this one, even though it’s airborne, is really, really hard to get infected with TB, unless you’re actually on someone’s face, breathing in the droplets directly. inhaling the droplets,” nurse Alice Benjamin said.
Benjamin explained that there is a difference between active TB and a TB infection.
A person with active tuberculosis can spread this infection to others by sharing the same air for a long time, causing lung disease.
A person with TB infection simply has the TB germ dormant in their body.
About 1 in 10 people with TB infection will get TB in their lifetime.
If you have been exposed to TB, it is best to get tested and remember that it is easily treated with oral medications.
The Ventura County Public Health Department also said that if you are expecting a package from Amazon, there is no risk when handling these packages because the disease is spread through the air, not through physical contact. .