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TB case found at Plainview
By Brett Spurlock
The Weekly Post
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Published August 25, 2005
RAINSVILLE—There has been a small scare at Plainview High School regarding a case of tuberculosis.
According to Area 5 TB Manager, Sherry Quinn, there has been one confirmed case of TB. A sixth-grader tested positive for tuberculosis at the end of the 2004-2005 school year, and now investigations are being conducted to get to the root of the problem.
Quinn commented that the Alabama Public Health Department has worked all summer long tracking possible sources and transmission of the disease. However, it is a still an ongoing process.
The chairman of the state health departments TB Medical Advisory Council, Dr. William Bailey, came to Plainview to speak to parents and students in order to clear up any confusion on the matter.
There was concern for the students, which are now in the seventh grade, who had been in close contact with disease. The Alabama Public Health Department came out last week to the school to perform TB skin tests on the Plainview seventh-graders as a precaution.
TB is a relatively rare disease in the United States. Health professionals have worked to turn tuberculosis into a problem of the past. Quinn said there were only 230 cases of TB in Alabama in 2003, and it continued to decline to only 211 in 2004.
Quinn reported that TB is caused by a bacteria. It can be spread through the air by coughing, singing, etc... It usually is spread in a confined area with poor ventilation. The transmission of the disease depends on the time of exposure, location of exposure, and so on. This disease does not live long outside of the body. The ventilation provided by air conditioning and even UV light can kill the organism that spreads TB.
“It is important to remember that TB is curable and preventable,” Quinn explained.
Tuberculosis can easily be treated with medication.
Plainview High School Principal Felicia Boland expressed, “The tuberculosis tests were only follow-ups to the ones given to the students before the summer.”
Boland said the health department tried to contact the students in that particular class over the summer break, but they were unable to do so. All of the parents had been informed on the issue, and all precautions have been taken.
Boland also stated, “There was only one case of tuberculosis, and that student is no longer infectious.”
Results from the recent tests will have to be evaluated by the health department. Now it is a waiting game, but all parties involved hope this is just an isolated incident.
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