Members at two Chuze fitness gyms may have been exposed to tuberculosis, according to San Diego County public health officials and Chuze Fitness.
The gym company and coordinators with San Diego County's Tuberculosis program are working to notify employees and members at Chuze Fitness-Mission Valley and Chuze Fitness-Chula Vista that they may have been exposed to the disease, they said Friday.
The county said that the exposures do not appear to be related to each other or to another case of TB that was recently discovered at San Diego State University. In that case, exposure was possible for patrons of the Charles B. Bell Jr. Pavilion common and food hall area from Feb. 16 to June 22.
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The dates of potential exposure at the Mission Valley location, located at 1233 Camino Del Rio S, are from Jan. 4, to Feb. 22 of this year, while the dates of potential exposure at the Chula Vista location, located at 1030 3rd Ave., are from Feb. 1 to April 30 of this year.
Members believed to be at highest risk at the Mission Valley location have been individually notified. Individual members at risk from exposures at the Chula Vista location have not been able to be defined. However, members who attended the location during the afternoons are believed to be at highest risk.
"Symptoms of active TB include persistent cough, fever, night sweats and unexplained weight loss," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, county public health officer. "Most people who become infected after exposure to tuberculosis do not get sick right away. This is called latent TB infection. Some who become infected with TB will become ill in the future, sometimes even years later, if their latent TB infection is not treated. Blood tests and skin tests are effective to determine whether someone has been infected."
People sick with TB may be sick for many months before they are diagnosed, and as such, exposure periods can be long.
TB is an airborne disease that is transmitted person-to-person through inhalation of the bacteria from the air. The chance of infection is higher for people with prolonged indoor exposure to a person who is sick with TB.
Individuals who want more information on this potential exposure can call the County TB Control Program at 619-692-8621.
According to county data, the number of people diagnosed with active TB in San Diego County has decreased since the early 1990s and has stabilized in recent years. There were 192 cases in 2020 and 201 people reported with active disease in 2021. In 2022, 208 people were reported with active TB disease in San Diego County.
