Tests show no tuberculosis among Occupy Atlanta protesters, leader says

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Responding to reports of a drug-resistant strain of infectious tuberculosis at the homeless shelter that’s currently the base of operations for Occupy Atlanta, a leader of the movement said his members were tested Thursday for TB and the tests came back negative.

The disease, Occupy Atlanta leader Tim Franzen told the AJC, is “not within our group. There are two cases at the whole (MetroAtlanta) Task Force for the Homeless” downstairs at the Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter downtown.

“We have gone as far as having our folks get tested today for TB,” Franzen said Thursday night. The tests found the disease in “zero people – not even halfway infected. No trace of any TB at all.”

About 100 Occupy Atlanta demonstrators took up residence on the fourth floor of the shelter after police evicted them from Woodruff Park on Oct. 26.

On Tuesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness had recently found people diagnosed with drug-resistant, active infectious tuberculosis at the homeless shelter.

Those who tested positive were being monitored to make sure they were taking medication as directed, the health department said.

Occupy Atlanta is on the top floor of the shelter. The Task Force for the Homeless is in separate space on lower floors. The two TB cases there are believed to have originated at the Fulton County Jail, Franzen said.

Speculation that Occupy Atlanta members may have been exposed to the disease “seems totally out of thin air,” he said.