FARGO - Tests indicate that a West Fargo student probably has active tuberculosis, the health officer for Fargo Cass Public Health said Tuesday.
Dr. John Baird said the student from Sheyenne Ninth Grade Center will undergo treatment with a combination of antibiotics and an anti-tuberculosis drug.
He said the full course of treatment will take six to nine months to complete.
Absolute confirmation of the test results will take three to five weeks because TB is a slow-growing organism, said Craig Steffens, TB coordinator with the state Department of Health's Division of Disease Control.
Tuberculin skin testing has already started for some of about 75 students who may have been in close enough contact with the ill student, Baird said, because they have gone to private providers for the skin tests. Baird said students who have not yet been tested will be tested this week, either at the school or at a central site. A follow-up test will be done in six to eight weeks, he said.
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The initial diagnosis was made by a private medical provider, Baird said.
Students who should be tested as a precaution were sent home with a letter to parents or guardians.
Baird and school officials said the bulk of the school's students, another 440 to 450, should be fine.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
