Home Delivery

TB tests given after contact with person at Syosset school

BY SUSANA ENRIQUEZ | susana.enriquez@newsday.com

4:37 PM EST, November 15, 2007

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

More than 300 people may have come into contact with someone infected with tuberculosis at Syosset High School, said a spokeswoman for the Nassau County Department of Health.

The person, who was neither identified as a student nor as an adult, was recently hospitalized and is being treated, said department spokeswoman Cynthia Brown.

After department officials met with high school and Syosset Central School District officials Wednesday, the district sent out letters recommending that those who had "close and prolonged contact" with the person receive a Tuberculin Skin Test.

About 330 students, staff and recent graduates are expected to be tested Nov. 27 at the high school, Brown said. Results would be available three days later.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that usually affects the lungs and is spread through the air when an untreated person coughs or sneezes, according to the Web site for the state department of health.

Because it has an incubation period of about two months, the health department will do a second round of testing in mid-January, Brown said.

The department is scheduled to hold an informational meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in the high school auditorium, officials said.

In the last 10 years, 18 schools in the county have had tuberculosis testing.

Friday, the department of health will be conducting tuberculosis testing at Nassau Community College for about 200 people who were exposed to someone with the infection.