The discovery comes after employees of the Cook County Health Department conducted TB tests on 40 people who worked with a Sears employee who was treated for the disease, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Health department spokeswoman Kitty Loewy says it would be inaccurate to think that tuberculosis is spreading at Sears since people who travel frequently or those born outside the United States can have dormant TB for years.

Loewy says the woman discovered to have tuberculosis responded to drugs and is back at work.