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COLUMBIA – An unidentified UM student has been diagnosed with active TB, the university said Monday in a press release. The student voluntarily left the campus.
"The student has been extremely cooperative with campus and local health officials," said Dr. Susan Even, director of the MU Student Health Center.
The Department of Public Health and Social Services of Columbia / Boone County said that the student could spread the disease if he is in very close contact with another person.
"So, active TB means you're" actively spreading the disease, "said department spokesman Jason Wilcox." So it's usually coughed up and then inhaled by people who are in close or prolonged contact with a person. tuberculosis. "
Wilcox said the department was looking for people close to the infected person, such as classmates, roommates or friends.
Tuberculosis spreads by air, most often when a person with the disease coughs around other people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"If I queued to prepare for the grocery store and two or three people were in front of me and I coughed, I would not consider it an exhibition," said Wilcox.
People who see or see the patient frequently would be at risk.
"If I saw this person every day and we were hanging out in a dormitory, studying, playing video games, in a lab, somewhere, I would see her every day, close by, if I coughed, I would not be able to. would be lucky that's what we would consider an exhibition, "Wilcox said.
Gary Ward, acting vice-chancellor of student affairs, said student safety was a "top priority".
"We are fortunate to have excellent health resources and experts in this field, competent to treat this type of diseases," he said.
Due to federal privacy laws, no additional information about the student or his condition will be provided.
Lydia Stroube, a student at MU, contracted latent (non-contagious) TB when she went to Europe with her family. She never risked passing on the disease to anyone, but she said that she was a little afraid that someone on campus had the disease.
"It's really scary," Stroube said. "Especially trying to determine who has and has not been exposed."
Stroube stated that she was not worried about her own health since she had been treated, but that she was worried about the others.
"I would definitely be worried because they might be exposed to active infection or even latent infection likely to become so," Stroube said.
The Ministry of Health has stated that cases like this are not technically out of the ordinary, with between three and six cases a year in the county.
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