TB Reported in School Worker

Health officials disclosed Friday that a Pinellas County school employee has an active case of tuberculosis, the second TB case reported in the Tampa Bay area this week.

School officials, working with the health department, are notifying students and staff about the case and trying to learn who may have had close contact with the worker.

The name of the worker and school have not been disclosed, though a press conference is planned this afternoon to update the meda.

The TB case is the second one this week that Florida health officials have confirmed in the Tampa Bay area.

A worker at MacDill Air Force Base is undergoing treatment for the respiratory disease, and co-workers in South Tampa are being tested.

In the case of the Pinellas County Schools employee, health officials are trying to determine which students and staff may have come in repeated, close contact to the worker.

A second notification will be sent to parents and staff, if it is determined that they need to be tested for exposure to TB.

TB is a lung infection spread by routine contact, when a person breathes in airborne germs.

People most ar risk of infection are those who've had very close, day-to-day contact with the infected person, according to health officials.

At 2 p.m. today, the media will be updated on the case, at the Pinellas County Health Department, in downtown St. Pete.

Free TB Testing to Pinellas Students, Staff

The Pinellas County Health Department will provide TB testing at no charge to students and staff starting on Monday, July 30. For more information about testing locations, call the Pinellas County Health Department at 727-824-6932.

According to the Florida Department of Health, 753 TB cases were reported in Florida in 2011, representing a 10 percent decrease in cases since 2010, a news release said.

There has been a steady decline in the number of TB cases in the state since 1994 (1,764 cases). Fourteen counties account for 80 percent of Florida's TB morbidity.