More than 100 UH-Hilo students, staff exposed to TB; Testing clinics slated for next week; expert says risk of infection low

The state Department of Health will test 120 University of Hawaii at Hilo staff members and students for possible tuberculosis infection.

They were exposed on campus to a person with transmissible TB who is not being identified for privacy reasons, has been treated and no longer is infectious.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes TB as a bacterial infection spread through coughing, sneezing, speaking or singing. Left untreated, TB can be fatal, the CDC says. Symptoms include a bad cough, chest pain and coughing up blood or mucous.

But Dr. Elizabeth MacNeill, acting chief of the Tuberculosis Control Branch at the state Department of Health, said of those exposed, "90 percent will never get sick."

Only about 1 to 2 percent of potentially exposed individuals typically test positive for a TB infection. Usually, it's the latent form that's not infectious and can be cured with medicine.

Vice Chancellor Farrah-Marie Gomes of UH-Hilo Student Affairs said the number of hours students might have been exposed, air flow in classrooms and nearness to the person previously infected were studied. People who were near enough, long enough and close enough are being notified that they should be tested.

TB requires prolonged exposure in confined quarters to spread, MacNeill said.

"We are taking this situation very seriously," Gomes said. An April town hall meeting will be scheduled.

Testing clinics for those 120 people exposed to TB will be hosted on campus next week, according to MacNeill. Clinics start Wednesday, April 19.

? Those who have never had a positive TB skin test will have a skin test done Wednesday.

? After three days, skin tests are checked.

? Those who've had a positive skin test before will get a chest X-ray.

? Those who miss Wednesday's skin test can get one Friday, with tests checked the following Monday.

Only those with active TB are infectious. Treatment will be given to any of the 120 people who were exposed who test positive.

"The campus is safe," MacNeill said. "People can attend classes. They can visit."

The UH-Hilo case, she said, is unrelated to another recent case on Oahu.

About one to three college students get diagnosed with TB annually somewhere in the state, she said, and there's one high school case every year or two.

Overall, about a third of people worldwide have latent, non-transmissible TB. It's treatable, but there's no vaccine approved for general use in the United States.

Gomes said when there's a case of active TB on an airplane, there's only an investigation if the flight lasted eight hours or more and only people in the same row, the row ahead and the row behind the patient get checked, which illustrates how difficult it is to get infected.

Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.