Ventura County Public Health takes hard stance on tuberculosis testing

Hundreds of students are being tested for tuberculosis this week at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard.

This follows two cases of active TB exposure in early June at Rio Vista Middle School and the 24-Hour Fitness at the Collection in Oxnard.

“Both of them presented a formidable challenge to the health department in terms of finding everyone who might have been exposed,” said Dr. Robert Levin.

Around 200 9th graders who graduated from Rio Vista are being tested since they could have been exposed at the middle school.

“If your kid has the TB infection, it’s not scary or worrisome or terrible because we have a very good treatment that we can give them that’s a prophylactic treatment meaning its preventive,” said Levin.

Kailey Silverman’s sister attends Rio Mesa High School. She says she is glad the county is covering its bases.

“It’s quite scary because you don’t really know when you have it until it might be too late to catch it right away,” said Silverman. “Having a younger sister that goes here and also younger children I would like to be aware of it, so I’m glad they are doing the testing.”

Students and faculty at Rio Vista were tested last week. Results reveal out of the 326 people tested, two cases of latent or inactive tuberculosis were found in two employees.

The Ventura County Public Health Agency is taking a hard stance since some students have yet to be tested. Levin says students have until September 14, 2018, to get tested.

“If a student has not been tested at that point they can’t return to school on Monday,” explained Levin.