Parents have TB officials to themselves

Richard Dymond

Apr. 21, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Nine parents attended a community forum on tuberculosis at Lakewood Ranch High School Monday night, but health and school officials in attendance said they weren't surprised by the low turn-out given the amount of information that has been disseminated about the recent case.

Last Friday, the Manatee County Health Department announced that an individual who had contact with students at Lakewood Ranch High and Nolan Middle School was recently diagnosed with active tuberculosis,

Health officials said that the sick person has been removed from Lakewood Ranch High, is under treatment and can no longer spread the disease.

The health department announced at the forum that an undisclosed number of letters went out Monday to students at both schools who were considered at greatest risk.

On Friday at Lakewood Ranch and Nolan, the health department will begin doing free skin tests on the students who received a letter.

There will be skin test readings on April 27. Those that test positive by exhibiting a raised, red bubble on the arm, will receive a free chest X-ray, Branic said.

The nine parents who did attend the forum had the luxury of having seven health department officials on hand, nearly one for every parent.

Peter and Eva Schrum, parents of a junior girl at Lakewood Ranch, wanted to know if the infected individual was a teacher or student.

Health officials couldn't answer that one due to federal privacy laws.

The Schrums wanted to know if the TB bacteria could travel through the air-conditioning ducts at Lakewood Ranch High and infect others.

They were told there was no danger of that happening. For TB to be spread, it must be a poorly ventilated area.

Eva Schrum wanted to know what happens at summer break with the continuous testing of the most at-risk students.

Jan Hinz, supervisor of the department's TB program, told her students will be tested close to summer break.

Bevin Myers, father of a senior son at Lakewood Ranch High, wanted to know how long it would take TB to incubate in someone. He also wanted to know if it was safe for his son to come back to school, given that others had been exposed and could be in the incubation period.

Hinz told him that in 90 percent of people, TB wouldn't incubate at all given the strength of their immune systems.

But in 10 percent of people whose immune systems were compromised, if they did receive the bacteria, incubation would be relatively quick.

"I know about TB having been in the medical field," said Eva Schrum, who had been a nurse. "But I wanted to know what's happening with it today and what's happening with it here."

Peter Schrum was interested to learn that there are 10 active cases of TB in Manatee County this year. There were 14 active cases in all of 2008.

The parents seemed satisfied with the forum.

"I got my questions answered," Myers said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 708-7917

Newstex ID: KRTB-0027-34282113