In a county with a population of 10,591, public health officials are battling an outbreak of tuberculosis that has already claimed three lives.
Over just a three-day span, doctors tested nearly 800 Perry County residents. Of those, 47 had a tuberculosis infection, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) said Monday.
The tuberculosis rate in the town of Marion is 253 cases per 100,000 people – more than 100 times higher than the rate for the rest of the state.
"I would say that there are probably not very many towns at all in the United States that have a case rate that high," Pam Barrett, director of ADPH's Division of Tuberculosis Control, told Alabama Public Radio.
In 2013, only one case of tuberculosis was reported in Perry County. The year before that there were none, AL.com reported.
On Jan. 7, public health officials said additional nurses and TB investigators would head to Perry County. Of 26 Alabama patients diagnosed with tuberculosis since 2014, 20 had ties to Marion, according to ADPH.
"We started wondering, 'What's happening in Marion?'" public health officer Dr. Albert White told AL.com.
On Jan. 11, the Perry County Health Department started providing money for people to get tested. In all, a person could get as much as $160 for getting tested and undergoing treatment, ADPH said.
"This is so important and of such concern that we are giving monetary incentives to people," Barrett said.
Officials will continue paying for tests in Marion until at least Jan. 29, according to ADPH.
