MDH: Ramsey County Tuberculosis Outbreak Largest In The Country

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The outbreak of tuberculosis in Ramsey County is now the largest current outbreak in the country, according to an official with the Minnesota Department of Health.

Since 2016, a total of 17 people in the county were diagnosed with "Latent Tuberculosis Infection" -- a strain of the disease resistant to two of the most commonly used antibiotics, according Kris Ehresmann, the Director of Infectious Disease Epiedemiology, Prevention and Control at the MDH.

Ehresmann says 14 of the cases are in the Hmong community, and 10 of the cases are linked to a single outbreak at a senior activity center. So far, six people have died of the disease.

However, Eheresmann says there is no risk to the general public, as tuberculosis is only spread through prolonged exposure.