Tuberculosis alert: a case appeared in a primary school – 07/11/2018

The appearance of a case of tuberculosis (TB) in a primary school in La Plata set off alarms in the health and education system. Confirmation that a minor who is in sixth grade of school No. 33 – located in 8 and 38, in the center of the city – is infected activated the protocols of action to detect infections possible. Although the results of the samples taken among all the students are known in the coming days, the authorities have decided not to suspend the courses.

At the Schools Directorate, they said they were informed Friday of the outbreak. "We are now working in an articulated manner with a protocol of preventive intervention.With the parents' permission, the clbadmates of the children were shown." Education officials badured Clarin that C & I Is the first case of a registered in the establishments of the region that is affected.

The Undersecretary of Health Municipality of La Plata and proceeded to the Mantoux reaction (PPD), a subcutaneous test which determines whether a person was in contact with the bacteria that causes the disease. They practiced it in the afternoon towards the students who share the clbad with the boy with the disease, all of the sixth "D". The TB patient is 12 years old and has joined the clbad in recent months.

The child remains hospitalized and in treatment at the children's hospital "Sor Maria Ludovica", La Plata. According to health sources, their evolution is favorable. "According to the first observations and studies, he will recover with a good diagnosis". At first, the family thought it was a flu because of the high fever and the time of year, but it was the mother who recognized the symptoms before taking her home. the doctor to see the cough and coughing up blood. The boy has a story: his mother and grandfather were affected by the disease. However, tuberculosis has no hereditary component, the doctors said.

"In a few days, we will be exposed to tuberculosis, but it is not the case. There is no need to close the school or to fumigate, "the ministry said

Until 2018, 1,320 cases have been reported in the province, and the authorities consider it a" social illness ". ", which is badociated with an infectious agent.

" There is no epidemic. We are in the parameters, "they told Salud. Tuberculosis is a disease with validity and promotion in several countries of Latin America.

A week ago, the guild of the Federal Capital Judges denounced that at least six officials working in the courts of Comodoro Py were infected with this disease. They said that they would become infected after being transferred to the Retiro building to report sick prisoners. According to the Union of Employees of the Judiciary of the Nation, in mid-March, a worker at this building in Retiro said she contracted tuberculosis during a statement of investigation. Two days later, a second case was reported in the Court of Instruction No. 30.

The condition is sometimes confused with bronchitis or a badly treated flu. It is caused by the bacillus of Koch when it is released by coughing, sneezing or laughing through saliva. Therefore, experts say that social contact and overcrowding are the main factors of its spread

The keys to the disease

-It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It mainly affects the lungs, but also the kidneys, bones of the spine, the central nervous system. The infection is transmitted between people through the air. It occurs when a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis coughs, sneezes, spits and speaks

– Symptoms: cough, fever, night sweats, weight loss. Sometimes the symptoms are persistent but tolerable and patients spend time before calling the doctor.

– In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was the paradigm of the incurable disease. In 1944, the era of antibiotics began in its treatment and about 10 years later, it could be controlled in almost all cases. So there was a gradual decline in the disease until the mid-1980s, when the emergence of HIV made TB a growing problem. This disease is not yet eradicated in Argentina.

Source: Dr. Francisco Abelenda, German Hospital