Tuberculosis found in 18 at UW

Latent form of disease cannot be spread, but could flare up in those who carry it

Eighteen University of Waterloo students and housekeepers, out of 100 tested, have been diagnosed with inactive tuberculosis, meaning they can't pass on the disease but are at increased risk of getting it themselves.

However, the good news is that they probably weren't infected by a foreign student who was diagnosed with a full-blown case of the disease earlier this month, said UW's medical director, Dr. Barbara Schumacher. Instead, they probably got the disease while travelling.

All those infected had travelled to areas where TB is endemic, including Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, said Schumacher.

Meanwhile, the student's close friend -- who spent the most time with him -- and the two housekeepers who cleaned his residence room on campus do not have any form of the disease, Schumacher said.

In fact, people with the latent form of TB are all around us, she said. One in 10 non-aboriginal Canadian adults has it, and the rate goes as high as one in four for aboriginal Canadians.

The infected UW student has left his residence since being diagnosed and is recovering in a private home.

For two to three months, he had experienced symptoms such as fever, night sweating, chills, weight loss and coughing up blood-tinged sputum. After he became ill, he took antibiotics not prescribed for his present illness. They didn't cure him, and he went undiagnosed until he visited the university's health services office complaining of a cough. He was diagnosed two days later.

"Fortunately, our student did not venture out from the residence room frequently, was focused on studies and had few social contacts," she said. "He didn't eat in the cafeteria very much."

Schumacher said reports that those found to have latent TB have all visited China aren't true. She declined to provide details of which countries each person had visited.

She warned that anyone who travels for longer than four to six weeks to countries where TB is endemic should have an inexpensive skin test done before and after their trip to make sure they haven't caught the inactive version. It's available from family doctors or at the community health department's travel clinic.

The same skin test was done on the 100 UW staff and students earlier this month. Schumacher said at least 50 people on campus have inactive TB.

When news of the student's illness was made public two weeks ago, local public health officials said all immigrants to Canada should have the same skin test done so that they can be treated for TB and avoid the full-blown version.

Canada's immigration system requires a medical exam, including a chest X-ray, for immigrants and long-term visitors to the country. But that only catches most cases of the full-blown version, not the inactive type of TB.

TB is a curable disease, except for certain rare strains or in individuals who are very ill or elderly. But it drastically affects productivity and quality of life, because it puts a stop to everything you're involved in while you recover.

Those affected at UW will be offered treatment in consultation with their doctors.