3 students at Robert E. Lee HS diagnosed with tuberculosis???
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Anonymous
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Has anyone else seen this? Scary!
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/20/3-diagnosed-with-tuberculosis-at-virginia-high-school/?test=latestnews |
Anonymous
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This happens throughout the year at schools all over the metro area. A few years ago, my DS was in a class with someone diagnosed with active TB, and he and all the other kids in classes with this kid received TB tests from the state health department to be sure no one else got an active case...which they hadn't. With kids from so many different countries and all the international travel that goes on, it's not really unusual these days.
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Anonymous
| Yup, tb is endemic in many countries. |
Anonymous
| 80-some-odd percent of us carry it. When our immunity breaks down, it flares up. |
Anonymous
?? Are you thinking of shingles? |
Anonymous
You must be thinking of shingles. Many people have to get tested for TB prior to getting a job (anyone in health care for sure) and the positive response rate is no where near 80%. In fact, of those who do test positive for TB, less than 10% will go on to develop full blown TB http://ethnomed.org/clinical/tuberculosis/firland/latent-tb-faqs . It's just not that common in the US (unless perhaps you're in prison). |
Anonymous
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TB is usually brought in by relatives visiting or in some cases au pairs, foreign nannies, etc.
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Anonymous
| The most disturbing thing I heard about this is that all three cases are unrelated. Yikes. |
Anonymous
| diversity? |
Anonymous
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I just found this thread when looking for schools but I think this is an overreaction. I tested positive for TB while in HS. It did not mean that I had active TB, just that I was exposed to it somehow. I never had any other test results come up positive except for the skin prick. I had to go through 9 months of INH treatment and never had any issues. It was a horrible experience for me because other kids found out about it and parents freaked out instead of trying to get the facts about TB and TB carriers. I'm in my 40's now. I went to school and lived in what would be considered an affluent neighborhood and do not have relatives from overseas nor had I traveled overseas at that time in my life. None of my children have tested positive for TB. I think it's terrible to assume things about these cases without the details.
I also think it's reckless of the news to report on this in the manner they did. They left a whole lot out that could put people's minds at ease. I'm sure the school and health department are handling it. I feel bad for those kids. |
Anonymous
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Meh, no biggie.
My friends kid tested positive for it when she was 3 and was in a daycare in VA. Kid was fully vaxed by the way. |
Anonymous
There is a vaccine for tb, but it is not used in the US. It is commonly used in Europe and elsewhere where tb is more common. The vaccine is only really effective in the form of tb that children get, and doesn't work on the form that adolescents and adults get. |
Anonymous
| The TB vaccine is given in many countries ouside of US for childern as one of preventive vaccines.However that will cause the TB skin test to be positive even though the person does not have a TB. That causes a big misunderstanding in US thinking that the person has TB beacuse the test came positive which is actually due to the vaccine that was provided in childhood. These people should not be on medictation unless the Xray reveals an active TB. The skin test is not acurate for thsoe that have been given teh vaccine in thier life time but in US some doctors enforce that these people have to be on mdeication which I belive is a total misunderstanding. So please calm down ,most of the confusion comes from there. |
Anonymous
| Doesn't VA require a yearly test for school like DCPS does? |
Anonymous
| Nope |