IRVINE : 100 College Students to Be Tested for TB

About 100 students and several instructors will be tested for tuberculosis after having attended classes at Irvine Valley College with a student who was found to have the infectious disease.

A physician treating the student informed college officials late last week of the diagnosis. It is the first time in the 10-year history of the college that a student is known to have contracted the disease, college spokesman George McCrory said Thursday.

College officials are not releasing any information about the student or what classes the student attended. Spring semester classes ended on May 24.

“A lot of this stuff is fairly confidential to protect the affected student,” McCrory said.

Tuberculosis is typically spread through the air by coughing or sneezing. The disease attacks the lungs of those infected.

Because school is no longer in session, the Orange County Health Care Agency has sent notices to certain students and teachers asking them to report to county medical offices for skin testing.

County health officials say they will force compliance if those notified do not voluntarily submit to testing. “If we need to, we do have authority to order examinations,” said Dr. Penny Weismuller, manager for disease control with the Health Care Agency.

Last year, there were 369 TB cases in Orange County, a 14% reduction from the 431 cases reported the year before. In 1993, more than 100 students at La Quinta High in Westminster tested positive for exposure to TB.

An investigation conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control concluded that the 1993 outbreak was exacerbated by a physician who failed to treat properly and report immediately the case of a La Quinta student who had a drug-resistant strain of the disease.

As of May 26, 125 cases of TB have been reported this year in Orange County, Weismuller said.