Tracing tuberculosis at Joppatowne High School
By Jeff Hager
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JOPPATOWNE, Maryland (WMAR) — Due to medical privacy, we don’t know if the person infected with tuberculosis at Joppatowne High School is a student or not.
We just know they’re no longer present there.
TB spreads through the air from one person to another and after prolonged exposure in an enclosed space and usually affects the lungs.
Harford County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Jamie Sibel says contact tracing is now the first order of business.
“An exposure time between four and eight hours in an enclosed space,” said Sibel, “So four hours typically for a very small space and eight hours typically for a larger space like a classroom, and we’re able to identify people based on exposure time.”
The health department will be testing anyone who may have been in contact with the infected person now and also will be testing them again in eight to ten weeks.
Already, the health department has issued a letter and a fact sheet to parents, guardians and staff members, alike, at the school.
In the meantime, they are being asked to report any possible symptoms.
“If somebody has active tuberculosis disease, the symptoms include night sweats, feverish chills, a cough lasting more than three weeks, which could sometimes have blood in it, loss of weight and loss of appetite,” said Sibel.
County health officials learned of the case from the Maryland Health Department after they were notified by a hospital facility.
We’re told the investigation has not caused any disruption in normal school activities.
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