Screening was offered to the “sixty contacts” identified among the students and the “ten” among the teachers.
A case of contagious tuberculosis was detected in a person who attended the Pasteur campus of the faculty of Rouen (Seine-Maritime), BFM Normandie learned from the Normandy Regional Health Agency (ARS), confirming information from France 3 .
An investigation carried out by the department’s anti-tuberculosis center made it possible to identify “around sixty contacts among students and around ten among teachers”, specifies the ARS. They were offered screening in the form of a chest x-ray and a blood test.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease linked to bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It most often affects the lungs, but can affect other organs, explains the Ministry of Health. This disease is transmitted from one person to another through the air, often through prolonged close contact in a confined environment. It can last several months and progress to the death of the patient if it is not treated.
“People in contact with the case do not have to put in place specific barrier measures apart from the recommended measures in the event of respiratory symptoms,” indicates the ARS.
156 cases in Normandy in 2022
The symptoms of the disease are nonspecific, although it is often characterized by prolonged coughing. It can also cause fever, weight loss and night sweats. The disease can be treated with antibiotic treatment.
It is a notifiable disease, meaning that any case must be reported to the ARS. Each year between 4,000 and 5,000 cases of tuberculosis are declared in France, according to the epidemiological tuberculosis surveillance bulletin cited by the ARS. In Normandy, 156 cases were declared in 2022, including 75 in Seine-Maritime.
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