Pittsburgh-Area High School Student Diagnosed With Tuberculosis

BRENTWOOD, PA — A Brentwood High School student has contracted tuberculosis, the district has announced.

The student has attended school remotely from the beginning of the current school year, is receiving medication to treat the illness, and is expected to resume normal activities in the near future.

The Allegheny County Health Department and the Brentwood Borough School District are working closely to identify those who may have been exposed and to arrange testing. Close contacts of the student and the student’s family have been tested. If additional close contacts are identified, they will be contacted and instructed on testing.

This information has been shared with the middle school and high school teachers and staff that may have had close contact with the student prior to the current school year and as a precaution they will tested next week.

The remainder of the district teachers and staff were notified of the case on Monday.

"We are keenly aware that this news will be extremely unsettling to our families," a statement on the district's website stated. "

Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease that is spread only through the air from one person to another. The illness cannot be spread by casual contact like kissing, shaking hands or hugging or through sharing food, drinks or utensils.

Also, it cannot be spread via surfaces. The only way to contract the disease is to breathe in the bacteria by being extremely close to an infected person for a long period of time while they are coughing, sneezing, singing, or talking.

Tuberculosis is serious disease but is rare, preventable and treatable with antibiotics. A
person with the ailment should become non-infectious within a few days to weeks of effective treatment and will be able to return to normal activities without risk to others while completing
treatment.