The Martlet

The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) has recommended that about 250 students and faculty get a TB skin test after a UVic student was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis this week.

While those 250 students and faculty had extended exposure to the student with TB, VIHA says the risk that any of them contracted the disease is low.

“It’s one of those diseases that, fortunately, isn’t very common,” said Dr. Richard Stanwick from VIHA, noting that you need repeated exposure to the disease to catch it. 

However, people who have spent long periods in an enclosed space with the student with TB, such as classrooms, are at risk.

Stanwick said students shouldn’t worry if they did not receive a letter to go to the doctor.

“We want to make sure students can focus on their academic challenges,” he said. “If there is need to do further contact we will.”

Stanwick said that testing anyone who has had long-term exposure to the disease is standard procedure.

“This is routine; we do this all the time [with TB cases],” he said.

TB is spread through the air by germs when an infected person coughs or sneezes. When TB germs are inhaled, they can attack the lungs and grow. This damages the lungs and can also spread to other areas of the body such as glands, bones, joints, kidneys or reproductive organs.

Symptoms of TB include loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, fever or night sweats. TB in the lungs can induce chest pain, shortness of breath or cough. The disease is usually contracted in developing countries where treatment is not widely available. Malnourishment also contributes to its spread.

While highly treatable with antibiotics in the developed world, Stanwick said TB kills two million people a year.

A clinic for TB skin testing will be held at the UVic Health Clinic on Feb. 13. The 250 students and faculty who have potentially been exposed to TB received letters encouraging them to come forward for testing and information on the disease. They will have to be retested in eight to 12 weeks.

The student with pulmonary tuberculosis is currently receiving treatment. TB is said to be highly treatable by a combination of medicines taken for up to a year.

In the South Island region, VIHA has between 15 and 20 identified cases of TB a year. Testing and treatment for TB in B.C. is free.