Navy Launches Ship-wide TB Screening

The Navy is screening all 4,800 crew members of the USS Ronald Reagan for tuberculosis (TB) and 1,200 relatives and friends who had been aboard the ship with a 32-year-old Sailor who was hospitalized two weeks ago with TB. He was on board the ship when it returned to San Diego on July 6 from a six-month deployment. The 1,200 family and friends were aboard for the leg of the trip between Hawaii and San Diego. The Navy has tested 776 people who might have had contact with the infected Sailor and found 34 (4.4 percent) that tested positive for the disease. None of them showed symptoms of active tuberculosis or was contagious, said Capt. Frank Chapman. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says less than one percent of those who test positive develop the active disease. The infected Sailor is now in quarantine at home.