Additional tuberculosis cases found at Olathe Northwest High School

OLATHE, Kan. (KCTV) - The Johnson County Health Department tested hundreds of people for tuberculosis following an exposure at Olathe Northwest High School. The health department said of the 314 people tested, six people tested positive for TB.

The health department said it notified the six people who tested positive. They are all asymptomatic according to the department. It also mailed letters to the homes of the more than 300 people who tested negative for TB.

The health department plans to offer a chest x-ray and antibiotics to kill the TB bacteria and prevent the disease from developing. The treatment time frame can take anywhere from 3-9 months to complete according to health experts.

People with latent TB infection are not contagious, do not feel sick and do not have TB symptoms.

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The health department said those with active TB disease can spread the bacteria to others, feel sick and can have symptoms including fever, night sweats, cough and weight loss.

The Johnson County Health Department originally expected it would need to test more than 400 people when the TB case originally surfaced.

TB is spread through the air by coughing, laughing, singing, and sneezing. The only way to contract the disease though is by frequent or close contact with someone who has an active case of the disease, according to the Johnson County Department of Health. It cannot be spread by contact with someone’s clothing, drinking glass, eating utensils, handshake, toilet, or other surfaces.

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The health department said it normally investigated about than a dozen TB cases a year, but not all turn out to be active cases.

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