More than 100 people associated with Rainier Beach High School are being tested for tuberculosis after one person was diagnosed with the serious airborne disease and is now receiving treatment.
Public Health is recommending that about 130 people connected to the south Seattle school be evaluated, based on the amount of time they were exposed to the person with TB in indoor spaces. The risk of possible exposure came as a shock to some students.
“This is crazy, man. Today, I was thinking, ‘Should I just stay home?'” said RBHS senior Anton Duro. “People are coming to school with masks now. It’s really weird to me. It’s like Covid all over again.”
The school will contact those who need a medical risk assessment and a blood test. Public Health said all students, staff, and families are being informed of the case this week, regardless of their level of exposure. The agency emphasized that people in the community do not need to monitor for symptoms or be concerned about TB spread.
TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria passed from person to person through the air by coughing or sneezing. Public Health said it is much harder to spread than COVID-19, a cold, or flu, and typically requires repeated and prolonged exposure in a confined indoor space to become infected. Even in households with one person who is contagious with TB, only about one in three close household members become infected.
“We will be doing testing really to ensure that the school community is safe,” said Dr. Caitlin Reed, medical director of King County’s TB Control Program. The Seattle-based nonprofit Community Passageways has been informing students about how to respond. “The team, when we’ve been outside, we’ve been telling the kids just stay fresh, stay clean, wash your hands,” said Community Passageways co-director Brandon Hill.
Public Health said the person associated with the school who has active TB disease is receiving treatment and is no longer considered contagious. Most cases of active TB are readily treatable with commonly available antibiotics, and treatment typically takes six to nine months. Officials noted the difference between active TB disease and latent TB infection. People with latent TB infection cannot spread it to others and are not ill with the disease.
Public Health estimates approximately 100,000 people in King County have latent TB infection. While they are not contagious, they could potentially develop active TB in the future and infect others. TB usually affects the lungs but can also affect lymph nodes, bones, joints, and other parts of the body. The last time King County had a case of active TB associated with a K-12 school was in 2023. Officials estimate there are about 100 cases of active TB per year in the county.
