By José A. Álvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office
People who were at the Lucky Lady Casino on weekends between Feb. 23, 2018 and Sept. 30 may have been exposed to tuberculosis, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.
HHSA is working together with Lucky Lady Casino management to notify patrons and staff who may have been exposed. HHSA will provide testing at no cost to patrons who were potentially exposed. Testing for patrons will be offered on Dec. 8 and 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Lucky Lady Casino located at 5526 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego. It could take eight to 10 weeks after exposure to someone with TB disease for a person to test positive for tuberculosis. Patrons who visited the casino are encouraged to contact their medical provider or County TB Control for TB testing if they cannot get tested on Dec. 8 or 9.
Testing will be offered to staff at no cost by Occupational Health beginning Nov. 6.
Tuberculosis is transmitted from person-to-person through indoor air during prolonged contact with an infectious individual.
“Most people who are exposed do not become infected,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. “But testing is recommended for all those exposed to assure they are not infected, since initial infection usually has no symptoms.
“For any infected individuals, early diagnosis and prompt treatment can prevent the infectious form of the disease.”
Symptoms of infectious TB include persistent cough, fever, night sweats and unexplained weight loss. For individuals with symptoms of TB, or who are immune-compromised and may not show symptoms, it is important that they see their medical provider to rule out TB. Tuberculosis can be cured with antibiotics.
Individuals who would like more information on this exposure are asked to call:
•Lucky Lady Casino (619) 287-6690
•County TB Control Program (619) 692-8621
The number of annual TB cases in San Diego county has decreased since the early 1990s and has been stable in recent years. There were 258 cases reported in 2016 and 237 in 2017 and 163 cases have been reported to date in 2018.
