Tuberculosis testing of 500-plus Oxnard students begins Monday
Tom Kisken
Four days of tuberculosis testing of hundreds of students at an Oxnard middle school will begin Monday as public health officials continue to deal with exposures of the contagious disease first reported in June.
Officials announced Wednesday that two initial waves of testing of students who attended Rio Vista Middle School last year revealed eight youths and one staff member with latent tuberculosis infections. The students are not contagious and none of the tests have revealed signs of the active, contagious disease.
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The infection does not bring immediate illness. It can develop into the active disease, which can be fatal if not treated, but often does not.
Antibiotics can eradicate the infection and eliminate the chance of developing into active tuberculosis, said Dr. Uldine Castel of Ventura County Public Health.
At a sparsely attended school meeting Thursday night, Castel said the initial testing was focused on people believed to have had contact with a person they learned in June had the active disease.
The number of positive tests spurred the decision to expand testing to cover every student who attended the middle school in the last spring semester — 558 students, including then-eighth graders who are now beginning high school.
Public health officials will be at the school to conduct the blood tests throughout the school day for four days, Monday through Thursday. If parents sign consent forms, students will be called to the gym from their classes for the testing.
“Everything is confidential,” Castel said, reiterating that the goal is to find students with the latent infection, start the treatment and eliminate the possibility of an active disease that can emerge at any time.
“It can come up in six months. It can come up in 50 years,” she said.
If students test positive for the infection, they will go through additional testing beginning with a chest X-ray. So far, testing has shown no cases of the active disease aside from the original exposure.
Next week’s testing will be aimed at students of the middle school. Public health officials plan to conduct testing at nearby Rio Mesa High School on Sept. 4-6. Testing there will focus on freshmen who attended Rio Vista last year.
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Parents can also have their children tested at public health clinics by calling 805-981-5221.
Officials told parents the original exposure involved a person with the active disease at the school from March to June. In the same area of Oxnard, another person with the active disease visited the 24 Hour Fitness at The Collection at RiverPark on several occasions over the same months.
Officials have said previously they believe the cases are linked.
So far, tests of people connected to the 24 Hour Fitness site have revealed seven people with the latent infection and none with the active disease. Public health officials say they’re still trying to test 210 additional gym members who were possibly exposed. All of them were notified by 24 Hour Fitness, said Eva Reeder, communicable disease manager for Ventura County Public Health, adding that public health workers have also made phone calls to each person.
“We’re still in the planning process,” she said of next steps in making sure the exposed people are tested, adding discussions with 24 Hour Fitness are ongoing.
Ventura County Public Health also operates a hotline at 805-385-9444.
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