Five at Irving Nimitz High School Test Positive for Tuberculosis Exposure

[TexasTowelie]

A handful of students at a high school in Irving have tested positive for exposure to tuberculosis.

The Irving school district said five people out of 137 at Nimitz High School tested positive for exposure to TB in preliminary skin tests. Students and teachers who had might have had contact with a student diagnosed with the bacterial infection between March and May had skin tests.

Positive skin tests indicate the person has been exposed to tuberculosis but do not mean that he or she has the infection or will contract it.

The student was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the end of the summer and is getting treatment. The student is not currently attending Nimitz.

More at http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Five-at-Nimitz-High-School-Test-Positive-for-Tuberculosis-Exposure-224648081.html .

Previous thread:
Irving Nimitz students to be offered tuberculosis testing after one gets the disease
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107811988

[gopiscrap]

1. Whoa, I thought TB was eradicated in the US

[Niceguy1]

2. it is brought in

By immigrants....

[gopiscrap]

3. ok, but I thought that the WHO and CDC had it eradicated.

[TexasProgresive]

4. TB in the US is trending down but not out

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/statistics/TBTrends.htm

[DhhD]

5. Similar strains of TB have become resistant to antibiotics in many countries.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-138122/Hospital-patients-warned-TB-superbug.html

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/rise-superbugs/

The bacteria develop resistants to antibiotics so the body develops its own antibody-antigen reaction. Meanwhile during that development, large white blood cells work to surround the bacteria, while other white blood cells surround the remains of cellular debris left over after a cell is ruptured by the infecting bacteria and secondary bacteria; that is the stuff being coughed up. The infection can overwhelm the immune system.