2008 Woodie Awards
Possible TB case reported
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: News
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) recently notified university officials that an individual associated with FMU might have contracted tuberculosis (TB).
Darryl Bridges, vice president of student affairs, said the school has cooperated with DHEC to locate and test everyone who has had close contact with the person suspected to have the disease.
Tuberculosis is a treatable bacterial disease caused by a germ breathed into the lungs.
It "is the single largest infectious cause of death in the world, killing about three million people every year," according to DHEC's Web site. About "10 percent of the people infected with latent TB will develop tuberculosis disease sometime in their lifetime."
In the past 10 years, 217 cases of tuberculosis have been reported in Florence county, according to DHEC.
South Carolina has an average of 300 new tuberculosis cases each year, and about 150,000 South Carolinians have been infected with the TB bacteria, according to DHEC's Division of Tuberculosis Control.
The Tuberculosis Control Program attempts to protect citizens by identifying and testing people at risk of having the disease.
TB symptoms include tiredness, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. As the disease worsens, chest pain, coughing up blood and shortness of breath become symptoms.
-- From staff reports
Darryl Bridges, vice president of student affairs, said the school has cooperated with DHEC to locate and test everyone who has had close contact with the person suspected to have the disease.
Tuberculosis is a treatable bacterial disease caused by a germ breathed into the lungs.
It "is the single largest infectious cause of death in the world, killing about three million people every year," according to DHEC's Web site. About "10 percent of the people infected with latent TB will develop tuberculosis disease sometime in their lifetime."
In the past 10 years, 217 cases of tuberculosis have been reported in Florence county, according to DHEC.
South Carolina has an average of 300 new tuberculosis cases each year, and about 150,000 South Carolinians have been infected with the TB bacteria, according to DHEC's Division of Tuberculosis Control.
The Tuberculosis Control Program attempts to protect citizens by identifying and testing people at risk of having the disease.
TB symptoms include tiredness, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. As the disease worsens, chest pain, coughing up blood and shortness of breath become symptoms.
-- From staff reports
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