The San Francisco Department of Public Health is investigating two cases of active tuberculosis linked to a local strip club.
The first case was reported in early October, and it is unclear whether the sick people worked at the Crazy Horse strip club in Mid-Market or were customers, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
“A Department-led contact tracing effort has been initiated to identify additional cases and prevent further spread,” an SFDPH spokesperson said in an emailed statement to SFGATE. “These efforts continue and, at this time, the risk to the general public is low. »
Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that can remain latent for years or even decades. A person with latent tuberculosis has no symptoms and cannot transmit the disease. However, at any time, latent TB can become active TB, where a person becomes contagious as they develop symptoms such as fever, cough and weight loss.
San Francisco has been fighting for years to reduce the number of active tuberculosis cases. In 2025, the city reported an incidence of 9.3 cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 residents, which is much higher than the state average of 5.4 cases per 100,000 residents.
Last fall, a month-long tuberculosis outbreak at Archbishop Riordan High School made headlines after eight people were diagnosed with active tuberculosis, and 244 others had the latent form of the disease.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco, said active tuberculosis is considered an airborne disease and one that can transmit relatively quickly in a poorly ventilated room.
“It’s incredibly irritating to the lungs, so that cough propels the little mycobacterial particles into the air and then you can get them,” she said of active TB.
Gandhi said that in some cases, it is possible that a person could be exposed even after an infected person leaves the room.
There is a cure for both latent and active forms of tuberculosis, although it usually requires months of antibiotics, which can be “difficult” to take, Gandhi said.
Due to the risk of a larger TB outbreak, any active cases will trigger an investigation by the Department of Public Health to look for others exposed to the disease. The ministry may even require people to seek treatment or remain in isolation due to the risk to the public.
“The public health department has the right to contact them and say, ‘Yes, you have been exposed and we need you to get tested,'” Gandhi said.
Gn Health
