More than 100 people who had been in contact with a cluster of eight tuberculosis (TB) cases at a university in Taipei will be monitored closely for the disease after responding abnormally to screening test results, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Friday.
Eight confirmed cases of TB have been reported at Shih Hsin University since a student there was diagnosed with the disease in September last year.
Earlier this month, the CDC launched a blanket health check targeting about 300 students and teachers who had come in close contact with at least one of the patients.
Standard TB screening tests, including X-rays and a skin test, were carried out. Abnormal results were found in 159 skin test samples and eight chest X-rays, CDC deputy director-general Shih Wen-yih (施文儀) said.
Those with abnormal test results have been referred to doctors for a more detailed physical examination and the CDC will continue to monitor their health condition for the next two years. This requires, among others, that a chest X-ray would be taken from every patient every six months, Shih said.
“The situation is under control,” he said, stressing that the 100-plus students and teachers were not infected with TB at present and would not transmit the disease to others.
TB specialist Bai Kuan-jen (白冠壬) said that the abnormal test results did not indicate that those tested actually had the disease.
The skin test, he said, is often used to determine if someone has developed an immune response to the bacterium that causes TB. An abnormal result can register if the person was previously exposed to the TB bacterium, which the doctor said is quite normal.
The school, however, has taken precautionary and preventive measures to stop the spread of TB and enhance students’ knowledge about the communicable disease, said Chilik Yu (余致力), the university’s vice president for academic affairs.
Yu said ventilation systems have been improved in places where the CDC felt changes were necessary and school staffers have raised students’ awareness toward TB through health-education sessions.
TB is one of the most common notifiable diseases in Taiwan, with more than 13,000 new cases reported every year. There are usually six cluster cases of TB reported at schools annually, according to the CDC.
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