JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Duval County Health Department has released its initial findings after testing numerous members of Jacksonville's homeless population for tuberculosis.

MORE: Health department begins aggressive TB testing

So far approximately 2,100 people have been identified as priority contacts, according to a news release from the health department.

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The DCHD is continuing its work with the Florida Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Jacksonville Tuberculosis Coalition to screen priority contacts.

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The health department has been conducting outreach investigations at local facilities, which provide services to homeless people who may be infected since January 2012.

Duval County has reported 42 cases of active TB, with 15 cases identified as FL0046.

There were 753 TB cases reported in Florida in 2011. The health department said this represents a 10% decrease in cases since 2010. Duval is one of the 14 Florida counties that make up 80% of Florida's TB morbidity.

The number of TB cases in Duval County declined from 89 in 2009 to 72 in 2010 and 71 in 2011. The number of cases that belong to the FL0046 genotype cluster increased over the time period: 10 cases were identified in 2010 and 30 in 2011.

There are five teams deployed by the Duval County Health Department. The teams are focused on screening Jacksonville's homeless population. The teams' goals are to find active cases, stop TB transmission and identify any latent TB infection to eliminate any future infections.

For additional information on TB, visit the following links:

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Disease_ctrl/tb/Introduction-Basics/TBIntro-Basics.html 

http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/faqs/qa.htm

First Coast News