WESTMINSTER : Another TB Case Found at School

Another case of tuberculosis has been found at La Quinta High School as a result of mass testing there last month, a county health official said Wednesday.

The student suspected of suffering from tuberculosis was removed from school and is currently undergoing follow-up tests, said Dr. Gerald Wagner, the county’s interim health officer.

The discovery of the new case raises the number of tuberculosis cases at the school since last spring to eight. Nearly 1,300 students and teachers were given TB skin tests last month. The test consists of a small pin prick, which is then monitored for signs of skin hardening or reddening at the injection site.

About 200 students who graduated from La Quinta in June and have not yet been screened for tuberculosis will undergo tests next week, Wagner said.

In a separate development, the county is expected to get a boost in its efforts to treat the disease when the Board of Supervisors accepts an anticipated $360,000 emergency grant from the state Department of Health Services next week.

The money would be used to fund nine additional positions in the county Health Care Agency to better enable officials to track and treat the disease. The grant is unrelated to the situation at La Quinta High.

Wagner said the new state money will help maintain patients in a six- to 12-month treatment program.

Three La Quinta students who reacted positively to last month’s skin test had abnormal chest X-rays--evidence they have suffered from the disease in the past--but showed no signs of active disease, Wagner said. Those students have been allowed to return to school.

Worries over a possible TB outbreak at La Quinta surfaced in the spring when a private doctor notified the Health Care Agency that a teen-age girl who was a junior at La Quinta had an active case of tuberculosis.