Up Front TB case ID’d at New West Secondary

JulieMacLellan jmaclellan@newwestrecord ca

A tuberculosis case at NewWestminster Secondary School prompted Fraser Health to issue exposure notifications to some students and staff just before March break

Now a medical health officer has some reassurance for families who were worried by the warning:TB doesn’t spread easily, and it’s “completely treatable” when it does

The notification involved one person at NWSS who was found to have tuberculosis, Fraser Health has confirmed.That person has not been at the school since the diagnosis and will be in isolation until the B C Centre for Disease Control’sTB services team determines they are no longer infectious

Dr. Maulik Baxi, a medical health officer who specializes in communicable diseases, said tuberculosis remains relatively uncommon in B.C.; BCCDC stats report roughly 15 to 30 cases each month provincewide.

“In British Columbia, TB remains relatively low in numbers compared to some of the other respiratory pathogens, where we see hundreds or even thousands of cases,” he noted

Baxi walked through some common questions and concerns around tuberculosis in an interview with the Record on March 16

We’re breaking it down

What happens when a tuberculosis case is diagnosed in B.C.?

Once the BCCDC confirms a case of tuberculosis, the health authority follows a contact management process

“That is when we identify individuals from their immediate family members, friends and other people who they maybe spent significant time with, and then we expand into workplaces and schools,”

Baxi said

Who gets notified depends on the type of activities they may have been doing and the amount of contact they may have had with the infectious person, he noted

BecauseTB is a “very slow-moving” disease without a clear-cut start date for infectiousness, Baxi said the health authority errs on the side of being “over-cautious” in sending notifications

How does tuberculosis spread?

With pulmonary tuberculosis, because the bacteria that causes it (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) is in the lungs and respiratory system, the bacteria that causes can be spread through coughing, sneezing, laughing or singing

“If somebody’s around them that inhales the air containing those nuclei, they may become infected,” Baxi said

But he said the number of people who actually develop the disease, even among those who were genuinely exposed to it, is still small without treatment, only about five to 10 per cent of those people will develop the disease.

“Even in the same family, let’s say one person is infectious Not everybody in the family may also even eventually become sick from that,” he said.

How many students and staff at NWSS may have been exposed toTB?

Baxi could not say exactly how many people were notified in this case.

“We did go above and beyond in identification of individuals who might be truly exposed, whether they were in the same classroom, whether they were in some of the other activities, whether they might be students, whether they might be teachers,” he said

Baxi said those who were found to have potential exposure have been notified directly by Fraser Health, and that notification includes information about what steps they need to take next including how to get tested

He said Fraser Health is working closely with School District 40 on notification and arranging testing clinics for those affected

How is tuberculosis diagnosed?

Depending on the type of tuberculosis, Baxi noted there are different types of tests

The first step to assess the exposure is a two-step skin test, where a person is given a small dose of injection to assess their exposure An assessment is done by a public health nurse 48 to 72 hours later to determine if the skin shows the characteristic redness that indicates exposure.