Public health officials confirm zero students tested positive for TB exposure at Walton High School

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FILE - A relative adjusts the oxygen mask of a tuberculosis patient at a TB hospital on World Tuberculosis Day in Hyderabad, India, March 24, 2018.

Credit: (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)

Cobb & Douglas Public Health and Walton High School’s administration identified those who may have been exposed to tuberculosis (TB) germs and administered a mandatory Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) to each of those individuals.

CDPH tested approximately 200 students and faculty at Walton, on Tuesday, Oct. 29, then returned to the school Thursday, Oct. 31, to measure the reactions and interpret results.

Even a positive test does not mean the individual has TB, said Dr. Kristin Nelson with the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

"If it comes up positive, it indicates that someone has had some sort of exposure to TB," Nelson said. "We don't know whether or not it was recent or in the more distant past."

None of the students tested positive, but everyone who tested negative will be required to get a confirmatory test in eight to 10 weeks, the health department said. The school will notify students of the date and time for that second test. Those who did not get tested on Tuesday must get tested by a private physician and provide a written report on office letterhead verifying the test was completed, with the date, and test result before they will be permitted to return to school.

TB is caused by germs that spread from person to person through the air. While the disease mostly affects the lungs, TB can also affect other parts of the body, such as the brain, the kidneys or the spine. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal.

Nelson stressed only a small proportion of people who are infected become sick with TB, and antibiotics will effectively heal the infection in a matter of weeks.

"The type of contact that transmits TB is sort of this, this close, prolonged contact," Nelson said. "So, that probably doesn't apply to very many students. And among those who it does apply to, who might have had close, prolonged contact with a student with TB, we have effective interventions to treat TB infection."

The Global Tuberculosis Report 2024 shows 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2023, a figure that represents the highest number of TB cases recorded by the WHO since it began global TB monitoring in 1995.

It also marks a significant increase from the 7.5 million new TB cases reported in 2022.

In Georgia, a total of 262 TB cases were reported in 2022, representing a 18% increase from 222 cases in 2021.

The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is the only effective TB vaccine in common use, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's given by injection in the upper arm and can take up to three months to provide protection against severe forms of TB in children, such as TB meningitis.

Many people born outside the United States have been vaccinated with BCG, but it's not generally recommended in the United States.

It is given to infants and small children in countries where TB is common. It protects children from getting severe forms of active TB disease, such as TB meningitis. The vaccine's protection weakens over time.