MONTPELIER, Vt. — Seven children and an adult from the Charlotte Central School have tested positive for tuberculosis and will be given antibiotics for nine months to ensure they do not get sick with the disease that usually attacks the lungs, Vermont Health Department officials said Friday.
The positive test results came after health officials tested 150 people, 132 of them children, at the Charlotte school and a Colchester day care center after an adult affiliated with both locations developed active tuberculosis.
No one who tested positive has developed tuberculosis, Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen and state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso said during a Friday news conference.
Tuberculosis cannot be spread until someone who is infected gets sick, they said.
“As far as we’re concerned there is no danger at the school and no danger to the students and adult who have tested positive at this point,” Chen said.
“We’ve told the parents in the community this,” Kelso said. “People in the Charlotte school community should have a higher index of suspicion for cough illness, especially cough illness that doesn’t resolve after several weeks.”
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