Health Ministry says pulmonary tuberculosis patient was at Sheba hospital earlier this month

Thousands of people are suspected to have come in contact with a pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patient at an underground facility at Sheba Medical Center earlier this month, the hospital and the Health Ministry say in a joint statement.

The statement says the male patient was hospitalized March 17-22 at the surgery area located underneath the Gynecology and Maternity Center.

Following an epidemiological investigation, authorities found that some 750 patients — including some 300 newborns and babies, as well as immunocompromised patients — are suspected to have come in contact with the TB patient, in addition to around 1,900 employees and an unknown number of people accompanying patients who stayed there for at least eight hours.

The statement says the respiratory disease spreads mainly through continued contact — at least six-to-eight hours.

It calls on anyone who spent at least that amount of time in the relevant area on the relevant dates to contact a Health Ministry hotline at *5400 to receive further instructions.