Tuberculosis Investigation of Middle School and Gym in Oxnard

(Ventura County, CA) — — Ventura County Public Health has been following two related cases of active tuberculosis (TB) since June and has investigated the two settings where possible exposures may have occurred. One of these cases is associated with Rio Vista Middle School in Oxnard. The other subject visited 24 Hour Fitness in Oxnard on multiple occasions.

Two hundred forty-six students and 12 employees at the middle school were initially tested. These were the students and employees who were identified as having the closest contact with the infectious case of TB at the school. Nine of the students and 1 of the employees were found to have positive tests. Public Health decided, due to the number of positive tests, that all children and employees attending Rio Vista Middle School during the last term of the 2017-18 school year, would be tested. In the expanded testing, 2 more students and 3 more employees were found to be positive for TB out of the 552 and 72 additional students and employees respectively.

At 24 Hour Fitness, TB tests have been performed on 87 employees with four testing positive. Of the 192 gym members who have been tested, nine have been positive. There are 50 identified members of the gym that still need to be tested or pending their test results being reported by their personal physicians to Public Health.

All contacts to the two original cases will be treated with a medication regimen that is proven to minimize the chances that they will ever go on to develop tuberculosis disease.

“While we still need some students and adults to get tested, we are very appreciative of all — especially the students and their parents – who have cooperated by getting tested. The staff and administration at both schools and the gym have also assisted greatly in our department’s response efforts,” says Rigoberto Vargas, Public Health Director.

Tuberculosis infection is very common throughout most of the world. It is relatively uncommon to acquire TB in the United States. The State Tuberculosis Control Branch estimates that 16% of foreign-born people in the United States will have a positive blood test for tuberculosis.

There is a difference between TB infection and TB disease. People with TB disease are sick from the germs that are active in their body and they may cough a lot, feel weak, have a fever, lose weight, cough up blood, or sweat a lot at night. People with TB disease are capable of giving the infection to others.

People with TB infection (without disease) have the TB germ in their body, but they are not sick because the germ is inactive. They cannot spread the germ to others. About one out of ten people with TB infection become sick with TB disease at some time in their life. TB can be treated and cured.

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