NORTH CAROLINA: Vance High Students, Staff to Be Tested for Tuberculosis

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

NORTH CAROLINA: Vance High Students, Staff to Be Tested for Tuberculosis

Charlotte Observer (12.14.04) - Friday, December 17, 2004
Karen Garloch

Mecklenburg County Health Department officials plan to test about 130 students and faculty at Vance High School for tuberculosis after a student there was diagnosed with the disease last week. People who have shared a classroom or ridden a bus with the ill student will be tested, while people who may have been in the gymnasium, hallway or cafeteria at the same time as the student are not considered at high risk for TB exposure, said Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director for MCHD. "We're casting a very wide net here," said Keener. "By doing skin testing for 130, we're just making sure that we've got those that may have been exposed."

School officials have sent letters to all parents of Vance students to inform them of the diagnosis and testing. Keener said it may be several months before health officials learn if anyone else was infected by the student, who is being treated and is currently not in school. The students and staff tested will be re-tested in two or three months to see if their TB status has changed. Anyone who tests positive during this week's test would have contracted TB earlier, not from the infected student, said Keener.

It has been three years since a Mecklenburg high school student was diagnosed with active TB, Keener said, and no other students contracted the disease at that time. As of the end of November, the county has reported 48 TB cases this year. "That's one of the lowest incidences we've had," he added.

For additional information, telephone the Tuberculosis Program at the Mecklenburg County Health Department at 704-432-2665.
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