More TB testing coming to Evansville’s McGary Middle School

EVANSVILLE — A second round of tuberculosis testing is coming to McGary Middle School this week in response to tests in May that found more than 10 people had latent infections.

The 10-plus individuals who had LTBI (latent tuberculosis infection, which is not infectious) were culled from a total of about 400 people, according to the Vanderburgh County Health Department. Staff members and students were tested after a person with active tuberculosis was removed from McGary.

“It’s not too bad (a proportion),” said Joe Gries, the health department’s administrator. “But it was good to get everybody tested so then we can find them. Then we’ll go through the second round, provide that testing again, and then treat and assess and do case management for anybody new, as well.”

More:Testing coming after TB case found at Evansville’s McGary Middle School

McGary students and staff who were not at the school during the first round of testing in May were not exposed and do not have to be tested this week, Gries said.

In no other Vanderburgh County school have tuberculosis cases been found, the health department administrator said.

There is a significant difference between Tuberculosis disease and LTBI, according to the CDC.

“Persons with latent TB infection do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms,” states CDC guidance on the issue. “They are infected with M. tuberculosis, but do not have TB disease. The only sign of TB infection is a positive reaction to the tuberculin skin test or TB blood test. Persons with latent TB infection are not infectious and cannot spread TB infection to others.”

Tuberculosis disease itself? That’s no joke, according to the CDC.

“Persons with TB disease are considered infectious and may spread TB bacteria to others,” the agency’s guidance states. “If TB disease is suspected, persons should be referred for a complete medical evaluation. If it is determined that a person has TB disease, therapy is given to treat it. TB disease is a serious condition and can lead to death if not treated.”

Gries said the second round of health department testing at McGary is necessary, given that tuberculosis takes six to eight weeks to incubate in the body.

“Sometimes when you test the first time, you could test negative — but the body is still processing and incubating that before it has enough antibodies to be actually found on a test,” he said. “So we’ll go back and find all of the individuals who were negative the first time and we will test again and then we’ll provide the results to them. And then if anybody is found to be positive, then we will go through the process of treatment and assessment.”

The 10-plus persons found to have LTBI as a result of May’s tests have been receiving treatment from the health department, Gries said.

“We provide medication that we get from Purdue University and do ‘direct-observe’ therapy to make sure they’re taking their medicine and we answer any questions, do they have any health issues and make sure we’re providing those services,” he said.