Tuberculosis case found at Las Vegas High School

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 | 10:41 a.m.

Students at Las Vegas High School are being tested this week for tuberculosis in the wake of the recent discovery of an active case in one student.

It is the first case of tuberculosis in local schools in two years, Clark County Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

Tuberculosis is a highly variable communicable disease -- though difficult to pass on to others.

About 100 active cases are reported in Clark County each year, Sizemore said, noting that national statistics show that tuberculosis is at an all-time low with slightly more than 18,600 cases in the United States in 1998 -- the latest year for which statistics are available.

The recent local case was reported when a Las Vegas High student, who had been out of school, went to a doctor and was diagnosed with the disease, Clark County School District spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen said.

"The student's doctor reported it to the health district, which notified us, and we helped identify the people who were in proximity to the student," Stanley-Larsen said.

Sizemore noted that even if a tuberculosis test does return positive, that does not mean the person has active tuberculosis. It means only that the individual has been exposed to it.

The test to determine TB is a shot of tuberculin in the forearm that causes a small bubble to rise on the skin. If the bubble disappears in 48 hours, the person has not been exposed to tuberculosis. If the bubble turns red and the skin is swollen, the individual has been exposed to the disease.

That person then receives drug treatments that are designed to prevent the disease from becoming active, Sizemore said, noting that the health district has a TB clinic at its Shadow Lane offices.

The health district will provide free tuberculosis tests through this week at Las Vegas High and will return in three to four months to retest some students who were close to the afflicted student, as further precaution.

People with immune system deficiencies are more susceptible to TB, which is prevalent in places such as homeless shelters, Sizemore said.

A vaccine for tuberculosis exists but is not used in the United States because it is considered ineffective, Sizemore said.