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COPIAGUE, NY – Tuberculosis cases have been confirmed at Copiague Middle School, Suffolk health officials said Monday.
The officials did not specify whether a student or a staff member contracted the illness, but stated that this person was "part of the school community".
"The New York State Public Health Act guarantees the privacy of patients, no additional information about the individual will be disclosed," health officials said.
Superintendent Kathleen Bannon also confirmed this news in a community letter posted on the school's website.
"The person comes out of school and receives care," she wrote in the letter.
According to health officials in Suffolk, tuberculosis is a disease caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is transmitted from person to person by air.
The disease usually affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body, such as the brain, kidneys or spine. However, not all people with tuberculosis get sick.
This results in two TB-related conditions: latent TB infection and TB disease.
People with latent TB do not feel sick and have no symptoms. They are infected with M. tuberculosis but do not have tuberculosis. The only sign of TB infection is a positive reaction to the tuberculin skin test or blood test.
People infected with TB are not infectious and can not spread the infection to others. In some people, TB bacteria overcome the defenses of the immune system and begin to multiply, leading to progression of latent TB infection to TB disease.
Health officials said they were working closely with the Copiague School District Administration and the Tuberculosis Control Bureau of the New York State Department of Health to identify students and staff who have been in close contact with the infected person.
These people and / or their parents have been informed by the school with additional information about the recommended tests.
"The affected person is no longer in school, so there is no risk of transmission," the health ministry said in a statement. "Only persons who have close and prolonged contact with an infectious person are at risk of contracting TB, in accordance with accepted public health practices, in accordance with the guidelines of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and in close consultation with The New York State Department of Health, SCDHS offers a free Mantoux PPD skin test for the screening of identified individuals, in consultation with the Copiague Middle School administration, as having had close contact and prolonged with the individual with tuberculosis.
Community members of the Copiague Middle School District who were not informed that their relationships or those of their children had been identified as having close and prolonged contact or anyone with questions or concerns related to the Tuberculosis may call the Suffolk County Department of Health Services at 631-854-2200 Monday to Friday between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm
The Department of Health will hold a general information session at the Copiague Middle School Auditorium, 2650 Great Neck, on Tuesday, April 2nd at 6pm.
More information on TB can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/
Suffolk County reported 25 TB cases to the New York State Department of Health in 2018.
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