Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) will likely opt not to widen the scope of tuberculosis testing that 150 Hitzeman residents were advised to undergo last week. As of Tuesday, 140 of the students tested had received negative results.

Dr. Alan Glass, director of SHCS, originally said that the results of the Hitzeman test group would determine whether SHCS advised other Washington University students to be tested. Hitzeman residents were most likely to have repeated contact with the infected student, since he resided in the dorm.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll have to [advise other students to get tested] at this point,” said Glass. “But then again, that will be part of the discussion that I have with the St. Louis County Board of Health later this week. It’s routine to test the people again in 12 weeks. Even though all these tests have been negative, just to be 100 percent sure we’ll send emails out to those students in 12 weeks reminding them to come in again.”

Glass explained that the TB germ sometimes has an incubation period during which it will not show up through a tuberculin skin test.

“If a person’s exposed to the germ, there can be varying amounts of time that it will take their body to convert to positivity on the test,” said Glass. “You can be pretty comfortable after the initial testing that everything’s okay, but that’s why you [get retested].”

The delay in time between the TB germ entering the body and a person becoming ill is generally between four and 12 weeks. However, very few infected people develop the TB illness in the subsequent months. Most individuals who come into contact with the germ get rid of it through their body’s normal defense system.

According to Glass, the percentage of people who test positive after initially testing negative is “very small.”

Only eight of the students in the original test group of 138 did not return within 48-72 hours after their TB test had been placed to have it read. Those students had the test re-placed on Friday. The 12 students who have not yet gone to SHCS for the test will also be sent another advisory.

“Any students who either didn’t get the test or who got it and didn’t have it read, we’ll send another email out reminding them,” Glass said.

Two students who had tested positive for the TB germ previously were sent for chest X rays. The tuberculin skin test administered by SHCS cannot distinguish between a recent or past TB infection, nor can it distinguish between an active TB infection and one that cannot be passed to others, known as latent TB. Once a person comes into contact with the TB germ, it remains in the body in this inactive latent state.

“Once your skin test is positive it stays positive throughout your life,” said Glass. “In any random sampling of people, there’s going to be some positive-those people are routinely sent for chest X rays.”

Neither University student who went for a chest X ray has active TB.

The source of the TB infection contracted by the student in Hitzeman is yet unknown.

“We don’t have any more information,” said Glass. “I’m going to be meeting with one of the folks from the St. Louis County Board of Health later this week, and that’s one of the things well be talking about, but I don’t have any more information about that at this point.”

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