Tuberculosis case detected at Bethpage High School, district head says

An individual from Bethpage High School is currently being treated for tuberculosis, district superintendent Dave Schneider said in a letter issued to parents Thursday.

The Nassau County Department of Health informed the district that the individual who was diagnosed “is under the supervision of healthcare professionals and is receiving appropriate medical treatment,” Schneider said. The district did not indicate whether the infected individual is a student, a teacher or a staff member.

“The risk of transmission to the general school population is considered very low,” the superintendent said.

The district and county health officials are working together “to identify potential close contacts” with the infected person, the letter said. The health department is conducting contact tracing “and will notify parents if they determine an individual is a close contact and needs an evaluation.”

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that can spread through the air when an individual with an active infection, coughs, sings or speaks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Primarily a lung infection, symptoms include chest pains, a cough and coughing up blood.

“We understand that hearing about TB can cause concern, but it is important to understand the facts regarding how it is transmitted to keep our community safe and informed,” Schneider said in his letter. “ … Transmission usually requires frequent and prolonged contact in an enclosed space, such as with family members.”

The district told parents to seek medical attention for their child if the child exhibits a cough lasting at least three weeks, coughing up blood or thick mucus, fatigue, fever, loss of appetite, night sweats or weight loss.

Nearly two weeks ago, the Patchogue-Medford school district informed parents that an individual from their high school was being treated for tuberculosis, interim superintendent Lori Cannetti said in a letter to parents and staff. That district said the person being treated was no longer at the school, and therefore there was "no further threat of transmission."

Anyone at that high school who had "close and prolonged contact" with the individual being treated was given a free test to determine whether they had a tuberculosis infection without symptoms.

"Even after exposure to a person with infectious tuberculosis disease, most persons do not become infected," Cannetti said in her letter. "Persons who do become infected with tuberculosis are not sick and cannot spread tuberculosis to others."

Anyone who tests positive for tuberculosis has a 5% to 10% "lifetime risk of developing tuberculosis disease," Cannetti said. "Tuberculosis infection can be treated by using an anti-tuberculosis medication, which greatly reduces the risk of developing tuberculosis disease by infected persons. This is sometimes called preventive treatment."