KENT, Wash. (KOMO) — Roughly 135 people from a Washington state high school have been recommended to be evaluated for tuberculosis after a school community member was diagnosed with the disease, health officials said.
Public Health Insider said individuals were contacted based on the amount of time they were exposed to the person with TB in indoor spaces. PHI is written by the communications team at Public Health – Seattle & King County.
The reported exposure occurred from March through September 2023.
The Kent School District will be contacting these individuals who need TB evaluation. The person at Kentridge High School with the active TB disease is receiving treatment and is currently not a risk for infecting others, according to PHI.
People at the schools who are infected with latent TB infection, which can be treated in three to four months, may be recommended for treatment so they do not develop the disease in the future, PHI wrote.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TB is "spread through the air from one person to another. When a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs, speaks or sings, bacteria can get into the air. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected."
PHI said in King County, 111 new cases of TB were reported in 2022. On average, about two cases of TB disease are diagnosed in King County each week.
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