Students, parents and others have many questions after a student at Wilson Central High School has recently tested positive for TB.

About 450 students and staff will be tested for tuberculosis as of Monday by the Tennessee Department of Health.

Are Wilson Central students and staff safe?

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, it was not necessary to close the school because of the investigative process that followed the identification of the HIV-positive student, the nature of the TB, and how it was done. of propagation.

The school was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and the air filters in the clbadrooms were changed.

How are sports managed?

Athletes, including students who will be tested, are allowed to participate in sports by the state Department of Health.

"Except for individuals who have previously been identified as being at risk of being exposed to a person with TB, there is no reason for (a) special screening for respiratory diseases or limb fever." Wilson Central High School team because of their participation in inter-school sports events, "said Shelley Walker of the Tennessee Department of Health.

Director Travis Mayfield sent a letter to the directors of Beech, Clarksville and Rossview High School stating that Wilson Central wrestlers would be selected by the school nurse before a regional tournament starting Thursday as an extra precaution .

When will the 450 identified know if a test is positive?

The confidential results of students and families that will be tested from Monday to Wednesday are expected from here a week to ten days.

What happens next?

Positive test takers will be referred for free to a State Health Department clinic for a chest x-ray, medical interview and clinical examination.

A treatment program to prevent the progression of active TB will be made available free of charge. A person with a negative test could be retested within eight to ten weeks because there was sometimes a delay in the response of the immune system.

Why is the test not planned immediately?

The bacterium of TB spreads in the air and the vast majority of people infected with TB never get sick because the body's immune system can fight it.

It usually takes years for people infected to switch to active TB, which allows time to identify those infected and to implement treatment to prevent progression later in life.

Sources: Tennessee Department of Health, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, and Wilson County Schools.

Contact Andy Humbles at [email protected] or 615-726-5939 and on Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

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