Some 150 Hanks High students possibly exposed to tuberculosis, to be tested

About 150 students at Hanks High School in the Ysleta Independent School District may have been exposed to tuberculosis, city health officials said Thursday.

The city’s Department of Public Health is investigating the possible exposure believed to have been caused by students coming into close contact with someone who had an active case of TB.

The health department will be sending letters to parents, informing them that their children may have been exposed.

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The parents will be invited to an informational meeting and free testing will be available to those we may have been exposed, said Robert Resendes, director of the city's Public Health Department.

"I'd like everyone to have the results before they break for Christmas break," Resendes said.

Neither health nor district officials would say if the person with the active case of TB was another student.

Resendes said that the person infected with TB in the YISD case was diagnosed with the illness this week. Health investigators then went back three months to determine who may have been exposed and may need testing.

"People should not be very concerned about this, we do this all the time. It’s kind of routine for us," Resendes said.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial illness acquired through breathing in infected droplets from the cough or sneeze of a person with active TB, but is not easily transmitted. The likelihood of transmission increases with length of exposure to the cough/sneeze of someone with active TB. 

Resendes said officials are working to ensure the students who may be at risk are being tested.

“The health and well-being of our community is our utmost priority, and we ask that parents who receive the Department of Public Health letter participate in the screening process so we can determine whether or not their child is infected, and provide appropriate evaluation and treatment,” Resendes said in a statement Thursday.

School district officials in a statement said they're "cooperating fully" with the health department and are following all procedures.

The district released the name of the school late Thursday after originally saying they couldn't disclose that information until authorized to do so by the health department. 

"The health department instructed us not to disclose this information earlier today" the district said in a statement. "But after we received numerous parent concerns, they have now authorized us to name Hanks High School as the affected campus."

As of October, there have been 29 tuberculosis cases in El Paso compared with 34 at the same time last year, Resendes said.

Tuberculosis is spread in the air from one person to another when a person coughs, sneezes or speaks but requires extensive exposure to spread, health officials said.

"You have to spend time very closely with someone for hours each day and days on end," Resendes said.

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It would be difficult to spread in a classroom setting, where children switch classes every 45 minutes, Resendes added.

Tuberculosis in a latent TB infection can live in a person's body without making them sick, health officials said.

TB can't be spread by a handshake, another person's clothes, utensils, drinking glasses, toilets or other surface where an infected person has been, health officials said.

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TB is not common in the United States, but it is estimated that a third of the world's population is infected, Resendes said.

"There are people all over the place with TB — you walk by them in the street and in the supermarket," Resendes said.

El Paso has a TB prevalence rate of 5.9 per 100,000 people compared with rates of 4.5 in Texas and 2.9 in the United States, Resendes said.

The TB prevalence rate is 15 per 100,000 in Mexico, according to the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization.

People with compromised immune systems, the elderly and babies are more susceptible to the disease, health officials said.

TB disease symptoms include a persistent cough lasting three weeks or longer, coughing up blood, fever, night sweats and chronic weakness.

Additional information about TB can be found at www.EPHealth.com by clicking TB Control under “Programs.”

Parents who receive a letter from the Department of Public Health or who have additional questions may call the City of El Paso Department of Public Health at 915-212-6609. 

Elida S. Perez may be reached at 546-6137; eperez@elpasotimes.com; @ElidaSPerezEPT on Twitter. Reporter Daniel Borunda contributed to this report.