State trying to find source of TB exposure at prison

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

State officials are trying to locate the source of 29 cases of latent tuberculosis that have popped up at the Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo.

Wesley Mun, health care administrator for the Department of Corrections, said 29 inmates who tested positive for TB when given skin tests tested negative when given chest x-rays, meaning the prisoners have been exposed to TB but the disease is not active and they are not contagious.

Corrections officials are working with members of the state Department of Health to monitor the situation, Mun said.

Peter MacDonald, warden at the minimum security prison that houses 189 inmates, said visiting hours and penitentiary programs have not been canceled because none of the affected inmates are contagious. He said prisoner transfers are still occurring.

He said none of his staff has reacted badly to the news.

"It is business as usual," he said. "Everyone seems to be coming to work after the initial discovery."

Corrections officials are doing a lot of detective work to locate the source of the TB, Mun said. Inmates could have come in contact with the carrier, in whom the disease is active, during any number of activities, he said.

"It is a public health problem if there is someone out there running around with TB," Mun said. "We may never find the person, and we may never find the source."

Corrections and Health Department officials are testing staff, volunteers, and anyone else who had contact with inmates, he said.

The infected inmates were discovered over the past couple months as a part of annual TB testing conducted by corrections officials.

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.