More State Funding to Fight Tuberculosis Outbreak

Governor Robert Bentley is authorized more than $200,000 in emergency funding to help public health officials continue responding to a tuberculosis outbreak in west central Alabama. Health officials say an outbreak of the airborne bacterial infection has killed three people since 2011, prompting aggressive screening efforts in Marion. That includes bribing local residents to get screened and follow up with necessary treatment. Two thousand people had been tested for tuberculosis in Marion as of Tuesday. Barrett says 29 people had developed tuberculosis disease since 2014, and more than 150 had infections that have yet to grow into full blown cases of TB.