5 DNR Workers at Michigan State Tested Positive for “Latent TB”

Five people working at the DNR's lab at Michigan State tested positive for "latent TB". Last summer. But we just now found out about it.

If you're a deer hunter, you know that the Michigan DNR has been testing deer for bovine TB and Chronic Wasting Disease for the last few years. The last deer I shot, in 2017, was from Clinton County and therefore HAD to be tested. (Mine was negative) The Mid-Michigan area is not one of the hotspots for bovine TB, but is for CWD. I won't get too graphic, but they need the deer's brain to test for these two things properly. So, the DNR's lab at State is full of deer heads - and even though a fraction of those deer tested positive for bovine TB, the "working assumption" is that's where the workers got TB.

"Latent TB" according to the story from ClickOnDetroit, "shows no symptoms, doesn't make people feel sick and is not contagious, according to federal health experts. It typically involves treatment to prevent full-blown TB". Obviously it didn't progress in these workers, and it wasn't really a wider health concern, so the DNR informed the governor but kept the story out of the media.

Until now.

Honestly - I don't think it's a big deal. We'll see how the internet feels.

Here's the story.