Student may have TB
Health officials step in: Roosevelt teachers, students, staff should undergo blood tests
The possibility that a second-grader at Roosevelt Elementary has tuberculosis has prompted an investigation by health officials who are asking her classmates and other students who ride the same school bus to undergo blood tests.
The Spokane Regional Health District sent letters home with children who attend the public school at 14th Avenue and Bernard Street.
There is no vaccine to guard against tuberculosis, though antibiotics are available to treat it, said Julie Tomaro, a registered nurse and TB program coordinator for the health district.
The student has undergone tests that indicate she may be infected. The last and definitive test may require several weeks for results.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection spread through the air. It usually affects the lungs, Tomaro said, though it can affect other parts of the body such as the nervous system, bones, brain and spine.
It’s relatively uncommon in the United States, but if left untreated it can become deadly. There are about eight cases in Spokane each year.
Because this case could involve scores of young students, health officials are strongly urging students, teachers and staff at Roosevelt to have blood tests rather than the less-accurate skin tests. The blood tests, which quickly rule out false positives and false negatives for TB, are free for these adults and students at the health district. Information about setting up appointments was included in the letters.
Concerned parents with children in other classrooms can call the health district or their own health care providers for testing.
The disease remains a leading global killer. A third of the world’s population is infected with TB. It kills about 2 million people each year.
In the early 1900s, TB caused the death of one out of every seven people in the U.S. and Europe, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.