WASHINGTON STATE (KOMO) — The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD) said a “large” tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in the Washington state prison system may have affected more than 800 people who were incarcerated and later released.

The health department said the state Department of Health (DOH) and the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) have been addressing what it described as a “large TB outbreak within the state prison system” and identified 28 people with active TB cases since July 2021.

The DOH and DOC identified over 2,900 “potentially exposed contacts” during the investigation, but the TPCHD said more than 800 people were released from prison before the DOH or DOC identified that they were exposed to the disease.

Many of those people have not been notified or tested for TB, the TPCHD said.

Dr. Chetan Seshadri, who co-leads the Seattle TB Advancement Center at UW Medicine, said people can be infectious for months before they get diagnosed and treated.

“Part of what the Department of Health is concerned about is that eight people who may otherwise feel healthy and be able to go about their day are nevertheless in the community spreading the infection,” Dr. Seshadri said. “You can actually be simmering with tuberculosis and be out and about and feeling ok and still be spreading the infection."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), TB is "spread through the air from one person to another. When a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs, speaks, or sings, TB bacteria can get into the air. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected."

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Chris Wright, a spokesperson for the state Dept. of Corrections, said there are no current outbreaks of any major diseases at any prison facilities.

“The outbreak that this most recent release is referring to stem from 2021 at Stafford Creek Corrections Center out in Aberdeen,” Wright said.

More than two dozen inmates tested positive for tuberculosis, Wright said, and thousands of staff and incarcerated individuals were tested at the time. Health department officials now say more than 800 convicts served their time and were released prior to be properly screened.

The TPCHD asked health care providers on Wednesday to start asking patients about TB exposure risk factors, including if they have lived or worked in a correctional facility, lived in a homeless shelter or if they were born or lied in a country where TB is common.

People who test positive for TB should get a clinical evaluation and chest x-ray to rule out active TB disease, the TPCHD said.

The CDC said the treatment for TB can take three to nine months. People who end treatment early can also develop antibiotic resistance. Symptoms of TB depend on where the bacteria is growing in the body, but the CDC said TB bacteria usually grows in the lungs (pulmonary TB).

Symptoms of pulmonary TB include:

• A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
• Pain in the chest
• Coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm from deep inside the lungs)

Other symptoms of TB include:

• Weakness or fatigue
• Weight loss
• No appetite
• Chills
• Fever
• Sweating at night

According to the DOH, TB disproportionately affects Washington’s vulnerable populations. The heath department said an average of five cases of TB disease are diagnosed in Washington each week, and that an estimated 200,000 people in the state are infected with TB.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 10 million people become sick with TB worldwide each year. Despite the disease being preventable and curable, 1.5 million people die from the TB each year, making it the "world’s top infectious killer."

Click here to learn more about TB on the CDC's website.