AURORA, Colo. — Health officials have finished testing the students and staff of Aurora Hills Middle School for tuberculosis and they did not find anyone else who was sick, a press release from the Tri-County Health Department says.
The testing was required after those at the school may have been exposed to a person with tuberculosis, a largely-eradicated disease, over the course of the fall 2018 semester, according to a message sent home to parents.
Initial testing in January did not show that anyone got infected with TB at the school.
However, in February repeat testing of the same people who were exposed showed that some of them were infected with the disease, but none were sick, a news release from Denver Public Health said.
Due to those tests results, the testing was expanded to all students and staff who were at the school in the fall.
That round of testing is now also complete, the Tri-County Health Department said Friday.
According to that most recent release, they still have not found anyone who is sick with TB, but did identify several people who were infected with the disease. It is not clear if these are the same people they found were infected during the February test, or if these are additional infected patients.
The release says those who were found to have been infected are following up with evaluation and treatment to avoid developing active or contagious TB in the future.
The release also says they do not expect any additional testing to take place at the school.
To get TB, according to the letter sent home to parents, a person must spend hours with someone who has it. It is contagious - but not in the ways most people think. You cannot get TB from just touching a doorknob, tables, utensils or other surfaces.
Denver Public Health has not found anyone else who is sick from TB, so there is no ongoing risk for TB exposure at the school. People with TB infection who are not sick cannot give TB to other people.
TB is a disease caused by germs that are spread between people through the air. It usually affects the lungs but may also affect other parts of the body.
- Most people who are exposed to TB do not get infected.
- People who are infected cannot give TB to others unless they are sick.
- Typical symptoms of tuberculosis are chronic cough, fever, or night sweats that are persistent for several weeks and usually getting worse.
- A person who is infected with TB but is not sick can be treated to eliminate the infection to prevent them from getting sick in the future.
- Additional facts about TB are available on the Denver Metro Tuberculosis Clinic’s website.
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