Skyline High School student diagnosed with tuberculosis

OAKLAND (KTVU) -- The Alameda County health department on Monday informed the Oakland Unified School District that a student at Skyline High School was recently diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) disease.

High school and District staff are working closely with the Alameda County Public Health Department to further investigate the case and identify anyone who may have been exposed.

The school district says those identified as having been exposed will be offered free testing. A person with active TB disease can spread the TB germs through the air to uninfected people. Tuberculosis is a slow-growing bacterial infection, often in the lungs, that can be deadly if ignored, but can be treated and cured by antibiotics that must be taken over several weeks.

Health care workers use blood tests to determine active or latent TB strains for patients who don't exhibit symptoms.

The health department says the most common way to become infected with TB is by spending significant amounts of time in close contact with a person who has active TB, such as living in the same space, studying or working together, or sitting near that person in a classroom or office. 

Almost 1,900 students attend Skyline and the school made robo calls and sent emails to the student body to alert the campus community about the situation.

Several parents attended a parent information meeting Monday night at the school.

"Of course, I am not happy this happened, but I am very pleased with the response," Principal Nancy Bloom said. 

School officials said the sick student has been placed in isolation. His immediate family members were among the first to be tested for infection. The sick teen should be able to return to school, once his treatment takes hold and he's no longer infectious, officials said.

This week, students and staff who have spent the most time around him, especially when he has been talking, laughing, and coughing will also be tested. Officials have not publicly identified the student.

"It's not like other bacteria where you could get a brief exposure and then develop the disease or infection," said Dr. Amit Chitnis of the Alameda County Health Department. "It really requires prolonged periods of time."

"Well I wanted to know if my son was exposed and to see what the ramifications were, " parent Rachel Gonzales Levine said after listening to the presentations.

"I feel very satisfied that they provided full information, and I'll just wait and see if we get a letter. I hope we don't but if we do, I feel like we're in good hands."

KTVU reporter Debora Villalon contributed to this report.