USF will test 150 possibly exposed to TB

Campus life at the University of South Florida went on as usual Friday while health officials investigated a presumed case of tuberculosis involving a student.

The parking lots were full, and students attended classes and school activities. They showed no sign of worry about the case of TB reported to the Hillsborough County Health Department this week.

University officials notified students, faculty and staff about the reported case before the start of classes Friday.

"They sent out an email that said they had isolated the student," sophomore Meki Singleton of Crestview said Friday afternoon. "I'm not worried about it."

The infected student, whose identity was not released because of privacy laws, is being treated with anti-TB medicine and is recovering in isolation, health department spokesman Steve Huard said. The student, who lives off-campus, no longer poses a health risk.

The university and health department notified about 150 people who might have been at risk of exposure to TB, Huard said. Those students, faculty, staff and community members, who had recent close contact with the infected person, will be tested, maybe as early as Tuesday.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that affects the lungs and can spread to other parts of the body. Although they can be fatal, TB infections also can remain dormant and go undetected for years.

The disease spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, talks, sings or sneezes. Typically, only people who have close, day-to-day contact with an infected person are at risk of contracting the disease.

At 2 p.m. Friday, Singleton and Julia Rauchfuss, a USF freshman from Melbourne Beach, were walking to their dormitory on the west side of the North Tampa campus after what they described as "a normal schedule, normal day." They were ready to begin planning their weekend.

That was the approach university officials hoped students would take on the matter, said USF spokeswoman Lara Wade-Martinez.

"We have been proactive in reaching out to the USF community, providing information on what to do and where to go to get additional information," Wade-Martinez said.

The university's Student Health Services set up a hotline to field questions about tuberculosis from students and employees. Nurses will be available to answer questions from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Feb. 17.

If students or employees not notified by the health department want to be tested for TB, they may schedule a free appointment at Student Health Services by calling (813) 974-2331. All other inquiries can be directed to the health department at (813) 307-8047.