For those who recall tuberculosis scares of the 1940s and ’50s, when infection claimed many lives, the recent mass testing for the disease at Palatine High School may have rekindled some fears.
But with the infrequency and curability of such cases, thanks to modern medicine, health officials assure the public there is nothing to worry about.
“I don’t think it should cause alarm,” said Dr. James Gallai, director of the Suburban Cook County Tuberculosis Center in Cook County.
A team of county nurses was dispatched to Palatine High School Dec. 16 after the center learned one student appeared to have tuberculosis. The teen’s doctor suspected the disease upon observing classic symptoms–fever, night sweats, weight loss and a cough–and an X-ray. The physician then informed Gallai’s department, which in turn notified the school.
School officials sent notes home and mailed a letter to parents to let them know about the case and the voluntary screening last Tuesday. About 1,700 students and 200 staff members participated.
When the nurses returned Friday to examine the skin tests, results were positive for 21 students and one faculty member.
“That doesn’t mean they will become infected,” Gallai said. Those people were advised to seek treatment by a physician, he said.
Meanwhile, results from definitive testing of the original case will not be available for several weeks, although Gallai said he is 98 percent sure the student has tuberculosis.
Each year, only four or so new cases are detected among elementary and high school students in suburban Cook County, Gallai said. And most who test positive have visited or were born in foreign countries where the disease is more prevalent and treatment is less sophisticated, Gallai said.
The bacteria often are passed by coughing and then inhaled.
During the past five years, the suburban department has performed testing at nine high schools, nine grade schools and one college, Gallai said.
