Students and Teachers Possibly Exposed to Tuberculosis at LA and San Diego Schools

A letter was sent to parents at a Los Angeles area high school warning parents that students and teachers may have been exposed to tuberculosis. 

The Burbank Unified School District sent out the note Wednesday morning to parents of John Burroughs High School students after a student tested positive for the disease.

Tuberculosis, or TB as it's often called, is a disease spread via the air and can be contagious. Some people may not even show symptoms if diagnosed with latent TB.

Ten percent of latent tuberculosis progresses to active TB, and if left untreated, will kill about half of those infected, according to the World Health Organization.

It's also noted that most people who are exposed to the disease do not contract it.

Symptoms include chronic coughing, coughing up blood, chest pain, painful breathing, weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats and loss of appetite.

It is treatable and curable, however, with patients taking antibiotics for six to nine months, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health were working to notify students and teachers as a precaution, the letter said. 

Students who were possibly exposed were receiving additional information, the letter read.

The school was to hold an information session Friday, Jan. 26 at 3:30 p.m. in the John Burroughs High School auditorium. The school is located at 1920 W Clark Ave. in Burbank.

Meanwhile schools in San Diego County were also notifying parents of two TB cases and possible exposure.

Students were possibly exposed at Crawford High School in San Diego was from Sept. 17 to Jan. 5.

The other occurrence was at Steele Canyon High School in Spring Valley between Oct. 27 and Dec. 21, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency.

Both schools were to offer no-cost testing at Crawford on Jan. 30 and at Steele Canyon on Feb. 13. Those exposed were not identified.

There were about 756 cases of tuberculosis reported in Los Angeles County in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.