Metro Briefs

The strain of tuberculosis contracted by the non-medical employee is “very treatable,” and the employee remains at work, the hospital said in a statement.

“The employee is expected to make a full recovery and is not and never was considered highly contagious or a threat to the health of co-workers or other staff and patients at Johns Hopkins,” the statement read.

Although the hospital is still investigating the source of the infection, officials said the most likely source was a patient being treated for an unrelated condition between August and December of last year. That patient is receiving drug treatment.

Hopkins notified the Baltimore city and Baltimore County health departments after the patient tested positive for TB in December. The employee tested positive during routine annual screening of all Hopkins staff in mid-March.

On July 20, the city health department informed the hospital that the strain the employee caught was virtually identical to that of the patient. Since then, the hospital has been identifying patients, staff and visitors who were at risk of exposure and offering TB testing.

The hospital has identified fewer than two dozen patients who may have been exposed, and no one else has tested positive so far, hospital spokesman David March said.

“Tuberculosis experts at Hopkins say the risk of possible transmission from patient to staff, staff to staff, or patient to patient, remains very low,” the statement read.

ANNAPOLIS

NAACP chapter tries to oust president

Members of the Anne Arundel County chapter of the NAACP have drafted a petition to remove the chapter’s president.

The petition needed 20 signatures to start impeachment proceedings, and opponents of Wayne Jearld collected 35 signatures Tuesday night. They will forward the petition to the national office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which could call for a hearing, move to oust Mr. Jearld or reprimand him.

The chapter’s executive committee has given Mr. Jearld a no-confidence vote. In a letter drafted last week, executive committee members listed more than a dozen examples of Mr. Jearld pointedly criticizing board members and other community leaders. The committee contended that Mr. Jearld had damaged the chapter’s ties with other nonprofits.

“To be president of NAACP, you have to be a people person, you have to care about people, and he just didn’t do the right things in dealing with the people,” said executive committee member George Phelps, who voted to remove Mr. Jearld.

Mr. Jearld declined to comment on the move before Tuesday night’s meeting, which he did not attend.

SALISBURY

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