A student at the Brookside campus of Waukegan High School was diagnosed with an active case of tuberculosis (TB) last week while the Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 community was on spring break.
The student is currently isolated from others and undergoing treatment, according to an email from the Lake County Health Department, which notified the district and they are working together to protect the community.
District 60 Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said in an email to the school community Friday that students and staff identified as having close contact with the individual were already notified by email and given recommended actions to take.
“As a precaution, the school is undergoing recommended cleaning procedures,” Plasencia said. “School operations will continue as usual, with continued cleaning and COVID-era air filtration enhancements in place.”
TB is a disease spread through the air from person to person by an individual with active — not latent — TB, according to the health department. Symptoms of the disease include coughing, night sweats and weight loss.
“While TB is contagious, it is not spread as easily as other illnesses, such as cold or flu,” the health department said in the email. “Although TB can be serious, it is a treatable disease. Not everyone infected with TB becomes sick.”
Working closely with the health department, Plascencia said people can transmit the disease through speaking, singing or coughing. People with active TB are, “most likely to spread TB germs to people they spend time with every day.”
In her email to the school community, Plascencia said that conditions like a persistent cough lasting three weeks or longer, coughing up blood, pain with breathing, chest pain, fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, fever, chills or night sweats are warning signs. A person with those symptoms should get tested.
“Treatment of latent TB can prevent active TB from developing which is why testing when exposed is important,” the health department said. “We encourage anyone who is contacted by the health department about an exposure to take the necessary steps to get tested.”
