Health

VIDEO: Finding TB: Investigating the Contagious Disease

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Think of all the people you may have come into contact with in the past week. Now try for the past month. It’s probably too many people for you to keep track of, but for a communicable disease investigator, finding all those people is an important part of the job.

“It’s a lot of footwork,” said Lari Petties, who works in the Health and Human Services Agency. “It’s a lot of investigating.”

Petties looks for people who have been exposed to tuberculosis in order to both cure and educate.

“TB is life-threatening, but it is treatable,” she said.

Follow along with Petties as she goes through a day-in-the-life of a communicable disease investigator.

If you are an outgoing person, you like talking to people, you like educating people, a CDI position is for you.”

Lari Petties, Communicable Disease Investigator

You can learn more about the Tuberculosis Control and Refugee Health Program online or apply to become a Senior Communicable Disease Investigator.

José Eli Villanueva is a multimedia designer with the County of San Diego Communications Office.