Kansas and Johnson County health authorities say 27 people tested positive for tuberculosis after a student at Olathe Northwest High School came down with the disease earlier this month. Heartland Health Monitor’s Dan Margolies has more.
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Authorities tested more than 300 students and staff at the high school who were in contact with the student. Lougene Marsh, director of the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, said the results were not entirely surprising.
(“It does seem like a large number, but when you consider the number of individuals that we tested, it’s really only 8 percent. The other important thing to remember is they’ve tested positive for TB infection, not TB disease.”)
Infected people are not contagious and don’t display TB symptoms, which can include coughing up blood, fatigue, weight loss, fever and night sweats. After the 27 undergo chest x-rays to rule out they have the disease, they’ll begin an antibiotic regime. Marsh says that will just about eliminate the possibility that they’ll come down with the disease. Dan Margolies, Heartland Health Monitor ####