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Hooters” waitress Jheri Stratton has been quarantined in her Baltimore home for the past seven months after allegedly catching tuberculosis from her manager, The Baltimore Sun reports.

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During this period, she has been required to wear a mask while walking her dog, cancel vacations, and swallow a hand full of pills twice a week under the in-person supervision of a city Health Department official. Stratton was diagnosed with an active form of tuberculosis in November after she and other co-workers allegedly caught it from a manager at the Harborplace Hooters in downtown Baltimore. The former waitress told The Sun that her life has been very difficult to live.

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“It’s just horrible, there’s nothing else I can say,” the 19-year-old 2010 graduate of Randallstown High School said. “I just wish none of this had ever happened.”

Last month Hooters compensated her for lost wages and medical expenses, according to her attorney.

“It feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders because it’s finally someone acknowledging that this isn’t my fault,” Stratton said. “Hooters is acknowledging the fact that this wasn’t something that I just picked up on the MTA.”

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The manager who allegedly infected Stratton and several other staff members at the restaurant has not been identified. A Hooters representative says the downtown restaurant has cooperated fully with city health officials to ensure that all safety measures have been taken to protect costumers and staff.

Here is more on how Stratton learned that she caught tuberculosis:

Stratton was first admitted at Sinai Hospital for a week in November, then quarantined in her home for a month after contracting the disease, and has since experienced serious medical problems, Block said.

Stratton, who said she had initially thought her cough and flu-like symptoms were related to her smoking and picking up some more common bug, said her tuberculosis has since caused much more serious symptoms, damaged her liver and forced her to remain on heavy medication. She had to take 10 pills a day for about a month. That’s now down to 10 pills twice a week, which a health official watches her take to ensure she’s adhering to her treatment.

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Oddly enough, Stratton was fired two days after receiving worker’s compensation. She says she will complete her regiment of pills in August and has plans on enrolling in cosmetology school.

“I’m not waiting any more tables for a very, very long time,” she said.

Go to the Baltimore Sun for the full story where the article goes into detail about tuberculosis and how one can catch it. And for a video version of the story, click here.