Georgia: Columbus High Staff, Students Tested for TB

Health workers screened 120 students and staff for tuberculosis at Columbus High School in Columbus, Ga., on Tuesday. The testing took place after the Columbus Health Department notified the school that one of its 1,236 students -- a male whose name has not been released -- has the communicable disease.

Only those students and staff in the boy's classes and on the bus he rides to school were screened. Testing only about 10 percent of the school's population is adequate because those persons tested were the ones who had closest contact with the boy. "TB isn't like measles, where anybody that passes you in the hallway could get infected," said Dr. Zsolt Koppanyi, director of the West Central Georgia Health District. "It's most likely to be transmitted in a confined space." He said officials are still trying to track down all the people who had close contact with the boy.

Koppanyi said he called school Principal Susan Bryant immediately after a local hospital official contacted his department Monday to report the TB case. The boy has been discharged and is taking medicine at home. "We can't tell what stage of the disease he is in yet," Koppanyi said, adding that improperly treated TB can be deadly.

This is the 32nd TB case this year in the district's 16-county region, said department TB Coordinator Rosia Thomas. It is rare for more than 100 students to be screened at once. Brenda Dozier, assistant superintendent for student services, said she could not recall a similar case in her 32 years in the district.

Bryant sent a letter home with selected students to ask their parents for permission to be tested. She was not aware of any family that refused. Four Health Department nurses joined two school nurses to administer the TB tests at the school.

Back to other CDC news for December 18, 2002

Previous Updates