Special to Clay Today

GREEN COVE SPRINGS — a Clay County Jail inmate has tested positive for an active case of tuberculosis, according to information released by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

Clay County Health Department and Sheriff’s Office officials are working to identify employees and inmates who may have been exposed to TB by having direct contact with the infected man, whose name is being withheld because of medical privacy laws.

Officials estimate that as many as 30 employees may need to be tested to see if they are infected. The follow-up medical investigations could take several weeks to complete.

According to Sheriff’s Office records, the inmate was arrested and booked into jail on Nov. 3. His medical screening questionnaire responses were negative, and there was no indication of sickness or presence of TB symptoms when he was booked.

A routine physical exam was conducted on the inmate on Nov. 12, including a TB skin test and chest x-rays. after his skin test read positive 72 hours later, the inmate was placed in a “medical cell” that has negative air flow.

Confirmation that he is actively infected was made by Florida Department of Health officials on Wednesday, Nov. 23.The inmate will remain in a medical cell for the duration of his jail sentence.

The case is the fourth case of its kind in the Clay County Jail since 1995.

A positive skin test for TB is common and does not mean a person has the active TB disease, or that the person can transmit the disease to another person. The bacterium is dormant in those cases and people exhibit no symptoms and cannot transmit to others.

According to state health officials, only 2 percent of the U.S. population — incarcerated or otherwise — has actual TB disease. State health officials are emphasizing that the presence of a TB-positive inmate “is not reason for panic,” and that the standard preventative measures being taken are adequate to curb any further exposure.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta provides detailed information regarding TB on its Web site, cdc.gov/tb.