UCD Student Treated For Tuberculosis

DENVER (CBS4)- A student at the University of Colorado Denver is undergoing treatment for tuberculosis. The university is contacting people who may have been exposed or infected.

Doctors said the student does not have any sort of drug-resistant TB. The school sent out an e-mail on Tuesday informing students about the active TB case.

UCD is working to identify those who might have had significant exposure and need treatment.

Health experts said it takes several days of prolonged exposure to contract the disease. Even then, not everyone will be sick.

"This is not the kind of disease that spreads like influenza across the campus. We really don't anticipate that there will be other cases. We'll identify the people who have been potentially exposed. We might end up recommending treatment if people have infection, you can actually prevent TB from developing if an infection has occurred," said Denver Metro TB Control Program Dr. Randall Reves.

UCD said the TB exposure was limited to just the Auraria Campus. Denver Public Health is handling the investigation on who needs to be tested.

Persistent coughing is the most common symptom. You can also get a fever, night sweats and weight loss.

CBS4 Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida said the classroom is where students may have been exposed. He said it's less likely they would be exposed in a large auditorium, unless they were sitting next to the sick person.

About 90 percent of the people who do get the germ don't develop active Tuberculosis, meaning they probably won't get sick.

It can take as long as two months to know for sure because of the testing.