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Twelve students at an Orléans high school have tested positive as carriers of the tuberculosis bacteria, although none is contagious or sick.
Ottawa Public Health said the 12 students at Gisèle-Lalonde high school have a latent version of tuberculosis — meaning they don’t have an active infection and cannot spread it to others.
Despite the test results, it isn’t possible to determine where they picked up the infection.
Last month, Ottawa Public Health issued a notice to students at the high school that they could have been exposed to tuberculosis one year earlier. That exposure, the agency said, might have occurred between Sept. 15 and Dec. 24, 2013.
Students at the school had skin tests last week to see if they had picked up the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. A dozen students came back with positive results.
The positive tests are not unexpected. Tuberculosis can sit dormant for decades or even a lifetime without becoming active. About 90 per cent of people with the bacteria never develop an infectious form of tuberculosis.
“They’re not contagious, they’re not sick, they’re not infectious, but they could develop (tuberculosis),” said Eric LeClair, head of health information co-ordination for Ottawa Public Health.
“It’s just good practice to offer a screening in case there has been a transmission in the school.”
The risk for developing the active disease is highest in the first two years after infection. Anyone with a positive test can take antibiotics as part of a very strict treatment process to help kill the bacteria.
The most common way tuberculosis is spread is through the air through coughing. The incubation period is between two and 12 weeks.
Signs and symptoms of tuberculosis include unexplained weight loss, night sweats, fever, chills, coughing for three weeks or longer, or coughing up blood. Anyone with concerns about tuberculosis can contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744, or online at Ottawapublichealth.ca.
jpress@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/jpress
查看原文...
Ottawa Public Health said the 12 students at Gisèle-Lalonde high school have a latent version of tuberculosis — meaning they don’t have an active infection and cannot spread it to others.
Despite the test results, it isn’t possible to determine where they picked up the infection.
Last month, Ottawa Public Health issued a notice to students at the high school that they could have been exposed to tuberculosis one year earlier. That exposure, the agency said, might have occurred between Sept. 15 and Dec. 24, 2013.
Students at the school had skin tests last week to see if they had picked up the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. A dozen students came back with positive results.
The positive tests are not unexpected. Tuberculosis can sit dormant for decades or even a lifetime without becoming active. About 90 per cent of people with the bacteria never develop an infectious form of tuberculosis.
“They’re not contagious, they’re not sick, they’re not infectious, but they could develop (tuberculosis),” said Eric LeClair, head of health information co-ordination for Ottawa Public Health.
“It’s just good practice to offer a screening in case there has been a transmission in the school.”
The risk for developing the active disease is highest in the first two years after infection. Anyone with a positive test can take antibiotics as part of a very strict treatment process to help kill the bacteria.
The most common way tuberculosis is spread is through the air through coughing. The incubation period is between two and 12 weeks.
Signs and symptoms of tuberculosis include unexplained weight loss, night sweats, fever, chills, coughing for three weeks or longer, or coughing up blood. Anyone with concerns about tuberculosis can contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744, or online at Ottawapublichealth.ca.
jpress@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/jpress
查看原文...
