Media Release

For: Immediate Release
Date: April 25, 2008

Department of Health Responds to Second Case of TB at Central Falls High School; Testing of Students and Staff to Continue

Today the Department of Health (HEALTH) announced that a second active case of potentially infectious tuberculosis (TB) in a student at Central Falls High School has been identified through the second round of testing of all juniors, seniors, and staff.  HEALTH, in consultation with CDC experts, recommends retesting all students and staff at the school during the first week of June. Because of the way TB causes infection, testing earlier than June 1 is not helpful, nor necessary, and could lead to falsely negative test results. Also, there is no health risk in waiting until then to begin testing.

“Because TB can spread with close contact, it is not surprising that our testing identified another case in a student with close and frequent contact with the first student,” said Director of Health, David R. Gifford, MD, MPH. “The manner in which we test for the infection is sequential and expands as new cases are found, so our next step is to conduct further skin testing among the entire school population to make sure that no one else has contracted TB.”

"Central Falls faculty and staff will once again fully cooperate with the Department of Health as we gear up for this round of testing,” said Central Falls Superintendent Frances Gallo.  “We are fortunate indeed to have a process in place where every person at our high school will be screened.”

Throughout the first week of June, HEALTH will conduct TB skin tests on all students and faculty to ensure that anyone who may have been exposed to TB in the school will be identified and treated.

In January of this year HEALTH was notified of a case of active TB in a student at Central Falls High School. HEALTH conducted TB skin tests for students and staff who were identified as having had close contact with the student, and out of an abundance of caution, tested all juniors and seniors. The students and staff were re-tested in late March because TB grows slowly and the body’s immune system takes time to react to it. Therefore, a person recently exposed with TB may not test positive for several weeks. Recent follow up evaluations of the students with positive skin test results led HEALTH to identify this second active case.

TB is an infection caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis that spread through the air from a person with active TB infection that is usually found in their lungs. The bacteria can cause two types of illness, an active form (active TB disease) and a latent form (latent TB infection). When infected, the bacteria commonly cause disease in the lungs but can also cause disease in other parts of the body. The symptoms of active TB depend on where the infection occurs but usually cause individuals to have the following collection of symptoms: unexpected weight loss, night sweats, weakness or fatigue, loss of appetite, persistent coughing (more than 3 weeks and sometimes with blood), or shortness of breath.
TB is a reportable disease, and therefore part of the Health Department’s disease surveillance system. The Department of Health sees about 50 cases of active TB every year in Rhode Island (about 1 a week) in Rhode Islanders from all towns and cities, of all ages and all races. The last case of TB in a school occurred at La Salle in 2001. The Department routinely evaluates each case and tests all close contacts to prevent the spread of TB. All new cases of TB receive treatment at the RISE Clinic, the state-supported TB specialty clinic.
More information about TB is available on HEALTH’s website, in English and Spanish at: www.health.ri.gov/disease/communicable/tb/index.php