TB tests set for school after exposure risk

Ottawa Public Health is investigating the possibility that 150 students and some staff at Ridgemont High School were exposed to a student with active tuberculosis.

The students, their parents and the staff have received a letter recommending they be tested for TB infection, said Ottawa Public Health.

Public Health said the students and staff may have been exposed between Sept. 4 and Nov. 12.

The infected student is no longer in school, said a spokesperson for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, which is working in conjunction with Ottawa Public Health.

The statement from Public Health suggests there is currently no threat of those at the school being exposed to the TB bacteria.

Public Health is “not aware of any person currently infectious with TB disease who is attending or working at Ridgemont High School,” said the statement on Tuesday.

“As a result, there is no indication of ongoing spread of TB bacteria to Ridgemont High School students or staff.”

TB bacteria can be spread through the air when a person with TB coughs.

Parents attended an information session Tuesday night at Ridgemont.

“My friend is a public health nurse up North — there’s TB up there — and she said, ‘Don’t be too worried,’” said Donna Smeaton, whose son is in Grade 12. “I’m told you have to be in really close quarters to get infected.”

A Syrian immigrant, Firas Majbour, has a Grade 11 daughter at Ridgemont, but he said he was not worried about TB.

“No, there is no concern. We just need to know the information,” said Majbour, an electrical and computer engineer who arrived in Canada seven months ago.

Pam Oickle, program manager for infectious diseases at Ottawa Public Health, met with parents at the school Tuesday evening in a closed information session. Before the meeting, Oickle said she intended to encourage parents to have their children tested next week.

“We’re strongly encouraging that everyone who has potentially been exposed get a tuberculin skin test,” she told reporters.

Oickle said TB can be effectively treated with a nine-month course of antibiotics.

Ottawa Public Health will be set to test about 150 students and staff for TB infection beginning the week of Dec. 10. People who should be tested were sent letters on Dec. 3.

The testing will identify people with latent TB infection, which means that TB bacteria have entered the body but are dormant and not growing, said Public Health. People with latent infections do not feel sick.

The latent condition is not contagious, and people who have it cannot pass the bacteria to another person. However, without treatment, a small percentage of those with a latent TB infection may develop active TB later in life.

Oickle said someone would have to spend a significant period of time in close quarters with someone infected with TB in order to breathe in the bacteria.

The most common way to test for TB infection is a skin test, according to Public Health. Anyone with a positive skin test should have a chest X-ray and medical assessment, said the department.

Tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body, such as the brain, kidneys or spine. It is curable, usually by taking antibiotics for at least six months.

Ottawa typically has two or three TB-related deaths in a year, according to Public Health, mostly due to unsuccessful treatment. In some cases TB was a contributing factor or was diagnosed only after death.

In Ottawa so far this year, 42 cases of TB have been reported. That’s average, according to statistics from Public Health, which show a range of 41 to 52 cases a year in the past five years.

In other parts of the world, TB is a serious health threat. Last year an estimated 10 million people globally developed the disease and 1.6 million people died from it, according to the World Health Organization.