No Other Tuberculosis Cases Since 1 From Pat-Med HS Community Tested Positive: Suffolk Health Department

MEDFORD, NY — No other people have been identified with active tuberculosis in the Patchogue-Medford High School community since one person from within there tested positive two weeks ago, though the investigation is ongoing, a Suffolk County Department of Health Services’ spokeswoman said.

The department’s Bureau of Chest Diseases recently received a report that a person in the high school’s community was diagnosed with active tuberculosis, and its staff is in contact with the school’s administration to identify people who may have had “close and prolonged contact” with the person, according to the spokeswoman.

The department is offering free testing to those “potentially exposed, she said.

District officials sent out letters on Jan. 23 notifying parents, guardians, and staff that a person in the community contracted the highly contagious bacterial infection, and was receiving treatment.

The person was no longer in the school at the time of the letters, so there was no further risk of transmission, officials said.

After the district was notified by the county, officials partnered with their representatives to identify anyone who came in contact with the person and who should be tested, according to officials.

Privacy regulations prevent the identity of the person from being released.

The district has not been informed of any additional cases, a district spokeswoman said Thursday morning.

The district offered a free PPD Mantoux skin test to screen for tuberculosis infections to people identified as having had “close and prolonged contact” with the person who had tuberculosis, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines, and in close consultation with the state’s Department of Health.

The test was administered at the high school on Jan. 28, and then again on Jan. 30, and Monday for anyone who missed the first one.

Testing will be done again in March, after a two-month incubation period has elapsed.

In one of the letters, officials offered medical information about what the disease entails and how it can be treated.

People who do become infected with tuberculosis are not sick and cannot spread tuberculosis to others. The presence of a tuberculosis infection, which is asymptomatic, can only be detected with a PPD Mantoux skin test.

If a person has a tuberculosis infection as indicated by a positive PPD Mantoux skin test, they have a have a five to 10 percent lifetime risk of developing tuberculosis disease. As a preventative treatment, a tuberculosis infection can be treated by using an anti-tuberculosis medication, which greatly reduces the risk of developing tuberculosis.

It is recommended that people who test positive should see their healthcare providers for an examination, and have a chest x-ray. Based on their health care provider’s evaluation, the preventive treatment may be offered.

Only people who have close and prolonged contact with an infectious person are at risk for contracting tuberculosis.