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Missouri students test positive for TB
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Oct/20061028News012.asp
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Published Saturday, October 28, 2006
<!--BODY--> JOPLIN (AP) - Eleven students at Missouri Southern State University have tested positive for exposure to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, but none show symptoms of active cases of the disease, university and health officials said.
The 11 were among about 200 students and staff members who were tested for TB earlier this week after the disease was confirmed in a student who lived in a Missouri Southern dormitory in the spring.
That student, whose identity has not been released, is responding to treatment and plans to return to school when he recovers, university spokesman Rod Surber said Thursday.
Skin tests on students who had been classmates or roommates of the infected student were done Tuesday.
Dan Pekarek, director of the Joplin Health Department, said it was unlikely anyone would be infected simply by being in a classroom with the infected student.
The 11 who tested positive for exposure to the bacteria will be put on treatment regimens but won?t have to wear masks,
Pekarek said. The state will pay for their treatment.
A person must have an active case of the disease to spread the bacteria. Even then, close contact is required.
Tuberculosis is spread through the air - for example, when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Symptoms depend on where the bacteria are growing in the body but might include a bad cough that lasts longer than two weeks, pain in the chest, coughing up blood or phlegm from deep inside the lungs, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, lack of appetite, chills, fever and night sweats.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Oct/20061028News012.asp
<!--END HEAD-->
Published Saturday, October 28, 2006
<!--BODY--> JOPLIN (AP) - Eleven students at Missouri Southern State University have tested positive for exposure to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, but none show symptoms of active cases of the disease, university and health officials said.
The 11 were among about 200 students and staff members who were tested for TB earlier this week after the disease was confirmed in a student who lived in a Missouri Southern dormitory in the spring.
That student, whose identity has not been released, is responding to treatment and plans to return to school when he recovers, university spokesman Rod Surber said Thursday.
Skin tests on students who had been classmates or roommates of the infected student were done Tuesday.
Dan Pekarek, director of the Joplin Health Department, said it was unlikely anyone would be infected simply by being in a classroom with the infected student.
The 11 who tested positive for exposure to the bacteria will be put on treatment regimens but won?t have to wear masks,
Pekarek said. The state will pay for their treatment.
A person must have an active case of the disease to spread the bacteria. Even then, close contact is required.
Tuberculosis is spread through the air - for example, when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Symptoms depend on where the bacteria are growing in the body but might include a bad cough that lasts longer than two weeks, pain in the chest, coughing up blood or phlegm from deep inside the lungs, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, lack of appetite, chills, fever and night sweats.