Officials testing all who might have been in close contact with the first confirmed case of TB
THURSDAY, March 19, 2015 (HealthDay News) — More than 300 students and staff at Olathe Northwest High School were tested last week after a reported case of tuberculosis (TB) at the school. The testing identified 27 more people with TB infection, the Kansas City Star reported.
On Monday, health officials started calling people who tested positive, while letters were being sent to those who showed no sign of TB. “The number of individuals with TB infection does not exceed what we would anticipate in this setting,” Lougene Marsh, director of the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, said in a statement Wednesday, the Star reported.
“Of course, we had hoped we wouldn’t find any additional TB cases, but we knew this was a possibility. That’s why we took such thorough steps to test everyone who might have been in close contact with the first confirmed case of TB disease,” Marsh added.
Another round of tests will be offered May 5 for people known to have been exposed to TB during the spring semester. It can take up to eight weeks for TB to give a positive test result, according to health officials.
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