A Deer Valley High School student has tested positive for tuberculosis and as a precaution, 209 students will be tested who shared a classroom with the student—meaning not all teachers, staff, or students will be tested.
According to a letter from Principal Kenneth Gardner, there is no evidence that there are any other cases or tuberculosis disease in the school after the county found out about the case on March 19. The diagnosis was confirmed about 6-days later. The student is already back in school.
A document provided by the County on March 18, 2013, showed there were 55 cases in 2012, which is comparable to the annual average of 54 cases during the five years 2007-2011.
Here is a copy of the letter from Principal Kenneth Gardner to Deer Valley parents which went out April 8, 2013.
Subject: Tuberculosis at Deer Valley High School
A student at Deer Valley High School has been diagnosed with tuberculosis disease. Tuberculosis is a serious bacterial infection of the lungs that is spread through the air when a person with tuberculosis disease coughs, sneezes, shouts, talks or sings. A link to a fact sheet is at the bottom of this letter, and information is also available on our website at cchealth.org and by calling 925-313-6740.
Contra Costa Health Services will be at the school doing TB testing on any student who shared a classroom or was in a club with the student with tuberculosis, and we have sent information home to those families. There is currently no evidence that there are any other cases or tuberculosis disease in the school or that the disease has spread to any other student. We are NOT recommending that all students or staff get tested at this time. If you have questions about testing, please contact your regular health care provider.
Contra Costa Health Services is working closely with Deer Valley High School and the Antioch Unified School District to address the situation, and we appreciate your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Kenneth Gardner
Principal
While I am not providing the official PDF Document, here is the text from the document which was produced by the Contra Costa Health Services entitled “TB Fact Sheet”.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that is spread from person to person through the air. It is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB usually infects the lungs but can infect most organs of the body. Bacteria get into the air when a person with TB of the lungs coughs, sneezes, laughs, or sings. If you are with someone who has infectious TB for more than 6-8 hours, in face-to-face contact, there is the possibility of being infected with TB. Tuberculosis is a disease that can be cured if treated properly.
Anyone can get TB, but some people have more risk. Some of the people at higher risk are: infants and small children, household members of someone with TB disease, and people with chronic health conditions.
The symptoms of TB disease may include: feeling weak or sick for three weeks or more, rapid unexplained weight loss (over a few weeks or months), fever, or night sweats, cough lasting more than three weeks, chest pain, or coughing up blood. Other symptoms depend on the particular part of the body that is affected.
TB infection is different than TB disease
People with TB disease are sick from germs that are active in their body. They usually have one or more of the symptoms of TB. These people may be capable of giving the infection to others. Medications can cure TB disease; usually three or more medications are given to treat TB disease.
People with TB infection (without disease) have the bacteria that cause TB in their body.
This is also called latent TB. They are not sick because the germ is not active in the body. They cannot spread the germ to others. Medications are often prescribed for these people to prevent them from developing TB disease in the future.
A test can tell if you have TB infection
You can get a TB test from a health care provider. A negative test usually means the person is not infected. However, the test may be falsely negative in a person who has been recently infected (it usually takes 2 to 10 weeks after exposure to a person with TB disease for the skin test to be positive). The test may also be falsely negative if the person’s immune system is not working properly.
A positive test usually means that the person has been infected with TB. It does not necessarily mean that the person has TB disease. Other tests, such as an x-ray or sputum sample, maybe needed to see if the person has TB disease. If you have symptoms of TB, you should contact your health care provider for a health care evaluation and treatment if needed
Source:
http://dvhs-antioch-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1235870330682/1281763295124/4512553024570233584.pdf
There was a media advisory that went out March 18 which highlighted the efforts emphasized as Tuberculosis cases leveled off in Contra Costa.
What:
Active cases of tuberculosis aren’t decreasing as much as previous years, raising concerns that the disease may level off in Contra Costa County, according to an epidemiology report released today to commemorate World TB Day on March 24. There were 55 cases in 2012, which is comparable to the annual average of 54 cases during the five years 2007-2011. A robust surveillance effort coupled with ongoing case management steadily brought the number down to 50 in 2006 from a high of 105 in 2001. Tuberculosis Program Medical Director Dr. Charlie Crane said that in order to reduce the number of active tuberculosis cases, it is critical for people with tuberculosis symptoms to seek care early, and for doctors to promptly diagnose the disease. To view Contra Costa’s epidemiology report, visit www.cchealth.org/tb/
Who:
Contra Costa Tuberculosis Program Medical Director Dr. Charlie Crane will join local and state tuberculosis officials for a regional media event March 19 in San Francisco to discuss local numbers and mark World TB Day. Dr. Crane is available for interview prior to the media event.
When:
The regional media event will take place from 10:30 – 11:00 a.m., March 19 at City College of San Francisco, Phelan Campus Multi-Use Building Room 140.
Why:
Tuberculosis is an airborne bacterial disease that generally attacks the lungs. The bacteria can sit dormant in a person’s body for months or years before becoming active, potentially causing the person to become contagious or seriously ill. Tuberculosis usually begins with a persistent cough that can last weeks or longer, eventually accompanied by unintentional weight loss, fever and night sweats.
Source:
http://cchealth.org/press-releases/2013/0318-tuberculosis.php
1 comment
As an high school parent, I’d like to know why did the school wait so long to issue a warning and begin testing? This is a major communication flaw and put our children at risk!
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