Tests point to additional kids and staff members who were at the North Greenwood Community Family Center but no new cases of active TB.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published December 18, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - Another round of tuberculosis screenings turned up more positive results for latent TB among children who attended classes at the North Greenwood Community Family Center, Pinellas County Health Department officials announced Wednesday.
Fifteen to 16 percent of the 60 children and teachers screened last week tested positive, said TB program manager Rob Berger during a 10:30 a.m. news conference. The children, 40 from Curtis Fundamental Elementary School and 16 from the nearby Community Pride Day Care Center, attended foreign language and computer classes one day a week at the family center.
Health Department officials declined to release the exact number who tested positive.
Last month, a staff member at the Holt Avenue family center was hospitalized with active TB.
To prevent an outbreak, Health Department officials began testing students and staff. Forty of the first 100 people screened tested positive for latent TB.
No new cases of active TB have been detected, and people who tested positive for latent TB do not feel sick or have symptoms. They cannot spread the disease but could develop it in the future.
At any given time, 8 to 10 percent of the U.S. population tests positive for latent TB, Berger said. The percentage of positive results for local testing is not unusual, he said.
Free antibiotics and chest X-rays are available to anyone who tests positive.
Susan Dixon, director of Community Pride Day Care Center on Holt Avenue, said her facility is following directions from the Health Department.
"I've been talking to them every morning," she said. "With children under 5 you have to be just so careful."
The Health Department, which has been deluged with calls from worried parents, is offering free TB tests to anyone who has spent time at the family center, which is run by the nonprofit African American Leadership Council. As a precaution, officials are reviewing the center's calendar stretching back to July.
"We don't want to miss anyone," Berger said.
Treatment for latent TB is a daily antibiotic that must be taken for nine months. The regimen is 98 percent effective, Berger said. The Health Department will offer supervised dosage for the children in day care and at Curtis to ensure they complete the regimen, he said.
Ultimately, up to 200 people may need to be screened, and testing should be finished before Christmas, Berger said.
"We think we've got the bulk of all the groups that came to the center," he said.
