Carolyn Peirce and Karl Hille, The Examiner
2008-02-26 08:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Howard County health officials are offering tuberculosis tests to about 50 students who may have been exposed to the disease by an infected classmate on their school bus.

“It’s very unlikely that any new cases will arise, but to have an abundance of caution, a letter went home to the students on the same bus as this individual,” said Peter Beilenson, Howard County’s health officer.

Health officials would not identify the student, but said the individual is no longer communicable and was not attending school while undergoing treatment.

“Testing was done of [the student’s] closest contacts including parents, family and best friends,” Beilenson said.

“And no new case has been identified through that testing.”

Classmates from the student’s bus can have a TB test administered Friday at Hammond High School. In the test, an injection is given under the skin. If the area becomes swollen in three days, the person could have TB, Beilenson said.

“It’s really in the hands of the Health Department, and we’re just doing what they tell us to do,” said system spokeswoman Patti Caplan, who did not know which school bus was at risk.

A total of 13,767 TB cases were reported in the United States in 2006, down from 14,085 in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TB is an often severe and contagious airborne disease caused by a bacterial infection. The bacteria typically affect the lungs but may affect any organ. It is usually treated with a regimen of drugs taken for six months to two years, depending on the type of infection.

But new drug-resistant strains are taxing doctors’ ability to save a very small percentage of cases. Between 1993 and 2006, 49 extremely drug-resistant TB cases in the United States were reported to the CDC.

Common symptoms include a cough with thick, cloudy and sometimes bloody mucus from the lungs that lasts more than two weeks; fever, chills and night sweats; fatigue and weakness; loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss; and chest pain and shortness of breath.

A Towson University student was quarantined for tuberculosis in September.

cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com

khille@baltimoreexaminer.com