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TB Case At Irving’s Nimitz High School

About 100 students at Nimitz High School have been notified they could have been exposed to tuberculosis last spring.

A student atNimitzis currently being treated for TB.  Officials are not releasing any more information about the patient. Next Wednesday, the Dallas County Health Department will do free TB testing on campus to screen for infection.

Health officials at theCenters for Disease Control say you have to be in prolonged, close contact with a tuberculosis patient in order to get it.  And most TB is treatable with a course of various antibiotics.

Two years ago, more than 100 people tested positive for TB after a teacher at Ennis High School contracted the illness.  Cases were also reported that year at the University of North Texas and Denton High School.

Former KERA reporter BJ Austin spent more than 25 years in broadcast journalism, anchoring and reporting in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans and Dallas. Along the way, she covered Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia Legislature and the corruption trials of Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.