Recent tuberculosis case at school not infectious
Warren Combined Health District made call after further testing.
Franklin City Schools FRANKLIN — has been notified by the Warren County Combined Health District that a recent suspected case of tuberculosis is not infectious after additional testing.
“Following the recommendations of the Ohio Department of Health, no TB testing of any students is necessary because there was an extremely low possibility of exposure to active TB,” said Alicia Habermehl, health district spokeswoman, in a statement. “This case of tuberculosis had further testing. Required confirmation testing determined this case was not infectious.”
If there are any changes, students and parents will be notified, Habermehl said.
Tuberculosis is an airborne pathogen that is typically transmitted indoors because sunlight kills the germs quickly. The germ can only survive in the air for a short period of time, according to a previous statement from the health district.
TB can be clinically diagnosed but may require further testing to be confirmed, health officials said.
School officials notified the health department on Sept. 7 about a suspect/clinically diagnosed case of TB at the junior high school. School officials were advised it was safe to resume classes on Sept. 10 at the school located at 126 E. Sixth St. As a precaution, school personnel thoroughly cleaned and sanitized the school on Sept. 9.
“The student who was affected will need a doctor’s note to return to school,” Dr. Michael Sander, Franklin Schools superintendent, previously said. “It’s not an active case of TB because the tests came back negative. That’s great news.”
“We had great cooperation between the school district and the health district and we kept the community informed,” Sander said. “Our number one concern was to do what the health department said to do and I hope the community feels they were kept informed.”
General symptoms of tuberculosis include feelings of sickness, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Symptoms of tuberculosis disease of the lungs also include coughing, chest pain and coughing up blood. Symptoms of the disease in other parts of the body depend on the affected area, according to the release.