WSU student diagnosed with tuberculosis

A Washington State University student has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The 20-year-old woman, who lives off campus, is being isolated while undergoing antibiotic treatment. Family and friends who had close contact with the patient also are being treated, but WSU said in a press release there’s “no general threat” to others at the school or in the community.

“TB is not really spread like wildfire. Not like influenza,” said Dr. Bruce Wright, director of WSU’s Health and Wellness Services. “That allows us to identify pretty specifically close contacts of the person that need to be tested and appropriately treated, if need be. We really think we’ve been able to identify close contacts and do what we need to do.”

Judy Stone, the infection control nurse for the Whitman County Health Department, agreed.

“If we come across anybody that seems to also have TB (because they’re showing symptoms), we’d be concerned, but that hasn’t happened,” she said.

Symptoms of TB include coughing, fever, weight loss and night sweats.

It’s unknown where or when the infected student contracted TB, Stone said.

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria and is spread through the air, usually when the infected person coughs or sneezes. For someone to catch it, they’d have to be near the person in a small space, like an apartment or airplane, for a long time. Simply sitting in a large classroom with an infected person likely wouldn’t put others at risk, Wright said.

Whitman County averages one case of TB a year, Stone said. She said it isn’t more common on college campuses, even though students often live in close proximity. In fact, recent cases of WSU students with TB involved people living off campus, not in dormitories, Stone said.

In 2004, there were four confirmed cases of TB in Spokane County and four cases in the five northern counties of Idaho. Although the incidents of TB are low here, the disease is on the rise worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s Web site. About 2 million people die from TB each year, it said.

Wright said he expects the infected student to fully recover.