Tuberculosis Symptoms

High-school officials Friday tried to reassure parents of students that it is safe for their children to go to school after a student tested positive for tuberculosis.
Alfredo Vazquez, a Canutillo Independent School District spokesman, said the teachers and students were in the same classes as the student with the disease. He said the students would be tested as a precaution and preventive measure.

Senior Elizabeth Garcia, 18, said rumors about a student infected with tuberculosis began Monday and were confirmed in a letter school officials sent to parents Friday.
The student with the disease, who was not identified, was diagnosed on April 14 and has not been in school since then. The student is undergoing treatment, health officials said.

"I don't know if we're safe. I thought it was a rumor, but now I would prefer to know about it," she said.

Marie P. Villa, tuberculosis program manager for the city of El Paso Department of Public Health, said tuberculosis can start as an infection with no symptoms and can develop into a disease causing chest pain, weight loss, fever, night sweats and a bad cough.

The disease is diagnosed in an average of two or three high-school students in El Paso every year.