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RUMOUR CONFIRMED: Parents of high school students sent letters warning of TB outbreak

RUMOUR CONFIRMED
Article image for RUMOUR CONFIRMED: Parents of high school students sent letters warning of TB outbreak

RUMOUR CONFIRMED

Parents of Lynwood Senior High School students were sent letters warning of a positive tuberculosis case at the school just before Christmas, it’s been revealed on the John Hughes Rumour File.

Schools out for Summer told 6PR Breakfast a student at the high school had tested positive to the contagious disease, and needed to get a blood test.

Tuberculosis is a disease of the lungs which can be passed to another person on the breath.

Once the outbreak was confirmed, contact tracing began and the TB Control Program sent out letters.

Full statement from WA Health:

“The WA Tuberculosis (TB) Control Program routinely undertakes contact tracing of people identified as having significant contact with a person diagnosed with TB.

TB is an infection usually involving the lungs that can be passed to another person on the breath. TB is not common in WA but we do diagnose about 130 – 140 cases per year. The TB Control Program is a dedicated service of the WA Department of Health that ensures these patients are adequately and fully treated (TB is curable with specialised antibiotics) and that contacts of the cases are screened and treated, if necessary, to prevent further cases.

If a person receives a letter from us because they are a contact it usually recommends a simple blood test. If this is positive, it usually does not mean the person has active TB, but rather that they have a dormant infection. This infection can be treated to stop it ever causing TB or spreading further. All of this is provided to the contacts free of charge and at their convenience.

TB remains a global pandemic, with about 10 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths worldwide annually.

However, TB is under very good control in WA because we have a well-resourced and dedicated program managing it.”

Medical Director of the WA Tuberculosis Control Program, Dr Justin Waring, told 6PR Breakfast it’s not all bad news.

“We have these contact tracing processes which allow us to identify if anyone has actually contracted the infection,” he said.

“And the good thing about TB infection if that if you have, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be sick or that you’re contagious, it just means it gives us the opportunity to prevent that from happening.”

Press PLAY to hear more from Dr Justin Waring below 

Image: iStock by Getty

RUMOUR CONFIRMED
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