TB Scare At Aurora Hills Middle School Concerns Parents After Possible Exposure

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- Students and staff who were at Aurora Hills Middle School during the fall semester, will all be tested for tuberculosis. This, after a previous round of testing revealed some people exposed to the disease were infected.

Denver Public Health said some people were exposed to a person with TB last fall, so they ran tests on a group of students. Officials said initial testing in January did not show anyone got infected with TB at the school. However, a repeat test last week of the same people who were exposed showed some had indeed been infected, but none are sick. Due to the new results, testing has been expanded and will take place on March 4.

"My son is actually so upset right now," Kristina Jaramillo, a parent of an 8th grader at AHMS, said. "He's just not wanting to accept this whatsoever."

Jaramillo's 14-year-old son is among the students who tested positive for TB.

"My son feels very embarrassed, but I told him he shouldn't be," she told CBS4. "I'm just concerned he'll have to take meds for the next 12 weeks."

Health officials say this is not a TB outbreak and they have not found anyone who is sick from TB, so there is no ongoing risk for exposure at the school. People with TB infection who are not sick cannot give the disease to other people. Yet for students like Kristina's son, there is still fear for how classmates will react.

"I do know that himself and other students are concerned they're going to be subjected to persons feeling kind of reluctant to be around them, and thinks they are going to give them something," Jaramillo said.

Denver Public Health reassured a handful of families who attended a town hall meeting at the school Wednesday night that there is no ongoing risk. That is why classes and school activities have continued as normal.

However, Jaramillo believes more should have been done to protect people.

"I think that if we had gotten on the ball of things a bit sooner, I don't think it would be so bad for so many students," she said.

Additional Information from Denver Public Health:

TB is a disease caused by germs that are spread between people through the air. It usually affects the lungs but may also affect other parts of the body.

• Most people who are exposed to TB do not get infected.
• People who are infected cannot give TB to others unless they are sick.
• Typical symptoms of tuberculosis are a chronic cough, fever, or night sweats that are persistent for several weeks and usually getting worse.
• A person who is infected with TB but is not sick can be treated to eliminate the infection to prevent them from getting sick in the future.

Additional facts about TB are available on the Denver Metro Tuberculosis Clinic's website.

Denver Public Health will provide an update on the investigation as new information becomes available.