Thursday, the San Francisco Department of Public Health confirmed it is looking into two active cases of tuberculosis “associated with The Crazy Horse establishment in San Francisco.” The Crazy Horse is a strip club on Market Street that’s been in existence for more than three decades.
The department told NBC Bay Area that it was notified of the first confirmed case in early October, and then began contact tracing efforts to identify people who may have been exposed.
“These efforts are ongoing and at this time, the risk to the general public is low,” the department said in a statement. “If this status changes, we will let the public know.”
Tuberculosis (or TB) is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. To contract it, health experts say, you will need to have prolonged exposure to a contagious person.
Dr. Abraar Karan, who is a member of the Infectious Diseases faculty at Stanford, explained that the bacteria that cause tuberculosis are airborne.
“The bacteria can hang around in the air long after someone is no longer in that space,” Karan added.
“Spaces that are crowded with poor ventilation or where you have very close contact with someone that is contagious are going to be higher risk for transmission,” explained
Karan explained that there are two types of tuberculosis: active and latent. Most people who contract tuberculosis get latent tuberculosis and do not show symptoms, and are not immediately contagious. However, over time and without treatment, that person can develop active tuberculosis, which is contagious and a serious illness.
The symptoms of active tuberculosis can include fever, coughing, weight loss, and night sweats, Karan noted.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Disease Specialist at UCSF, believes the SFDPH contact tracing teams will be tracking these cases for a while because the bacteria that causes tuberculosis grows very slowly.
“They’ll do testing and probably repeat the testing in a few weeks, because again, sometimes the testing may be negative, but because [the bacteria] grows so slowly, eventually that test may turn positive if there was a true infection,” he noted.
Chin-Hong also cautioned: these two cases don’t automatically mean there is an outbreak.
“[Public Health officials] have to establish at least two cases that are linked, and we’re not even sure at this point whether the two cases are actually acquired at the establishment, or they got it somewhere else,” Chin-Hong said.
He noted that the San Francisco Department of Health will be assessing who is most at risk and contacting them.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health said it is important for people at risk of tuberculosis to get tested and treated.
NBC Bay Area reached out to Crazy Horse for comment, but has not received a response.
