San Diego City Wire

The County’s Tuberculosis Control Program is working in close collaboration with Grossmont Union High School District to notify students, staff, and volunteers potentially exposed to tuberculosis (TB) during the second semester of the 2023-24 school year at Mount Miguel High School. The school is located at 8585 Blossom Lane in Spring Valley. The dates of potential exposure are from Feb. 1 to June 4, 2024.

TB is an airborne disease transmitted through inhalation of bacteria from the air when someone sick with TB coughs, speaks, sings, or breathes. People with frequent and prolonged indoor exposure to a person who is sick with TB should get tested.

Effective treatments are available to cure people who are sick from active TB. It is especially important for people with symptoms of active TB and those who are immunocompromised to see a medical provider to rule out active TB disease and discuss treatment.

The County and Grossmont Union High School District will coordinate TB testing, and x-rays when appropriate, for people whom health investigators have identified as having been exposed.

“Symptoms of active TB include persistent cough, fever, night sweats, and unexplained weight loss,” said Ankita Kadakia, M.D., County Interim Public Health Officer. “Most people who become infected after exposure to tuberculosis do not get sick right away. This is called latent TB infection. Some who become infected with tuberculosis will become ill in the future, sometimes even years later if their latent TB infection is not treated. For people who think they may have been exposed, blood tests and skin tests are an effective way to determine an infection.”

People who test positive for TB but don’t have symptoms of an active disease should get a chest x-ray and talk to their medical provider, as they most likely have a latent TB infection. People in this situation are infected with TB, but the infection is essentially dormant or “sleeping.” Taking medicines for latent TB infection can cure the infection and keep people from getting sick later.

The number of people diagnosed with active TB in San Diego County had decreased since the early 1990s when more than 400 cases were reported annually. After decades of declining cases, they have begun to rise since 2020.

In 2020, there were 193 TB cases; 201 in 2021; and 208 in 2022. In 2023, a total of 243 people were reported with active TB disease in San Diego County. The 17 percent increase in 2023 brought the County back to pre-pandemic levels.

An estimated 175,000 people in San Diego County have latent TB infection. Of these, five to ten percent are at risk for developing active TB disease if they go without preventive treatment.

People who would like more information on this potential exposure should call the County Tuberculosis Control Program at (619) 692-8621.