6 in class advised to get tested for TB

Erika Gonzalez, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, August 24, 2007

A group of students at the University of Colorado at Boulder who were taught by an instructor recently diagnosed with tuberculosis will be advised to get tested for the disease, CU officials said Thursday.

The 39 students took a School of Education course in June and July from a research associate who is now under a voluntary quarantine for TB at his Denver home.

"Simply being in the class is not enough to be worrisome," said CU-Boulder spokesman Bronson Hilliard. "This is just a precaution."

Denver Health Medical Center officials have identified six individuals who had sufficient interaction with the teacher to require testing.

As a precautionary measure, a number of family members and associates of the faculty member, who is not being identified, also were tested.

Denver Health investigators are awaiting test results that will determine what strain the research associate has and whether it is drug-resistant.

The individual has agreed to remain in isolation for the mandatory two- to three-week period until the test results are returned.

It is unclear how the faculty member contracted the disease.

Other recent TB cases:

• Andrew Speaker: He touched off an international health scare after he flew to Europe for his wedding, then back while infected with a difficult-to-treat form of TB. After undergoing surgery to remove part of his lung at National Jewish Medical and Research Center, the Atlanta attorney flew home to Georgia to recuperate late last month.

• Robert Daniels: The Arizona resident has been recovering at National Jewish since having his left lung removed at the University of Colorado Hospital July 31. He had been quarantined at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix after medical authorities complained that he had endangered others by failing to wear a mask in public.