The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has confirmed that children at Tiny World Childcare in Brookline might have been exposed to tuberculosis and officials are now monitoring the situation.
A statement from DPH says that they are working closely with local officials as well as the staff at Tiny World Childcare. They added, "Tuberculosis is preventable and treatable, and transmission of TB in these cases is very uncommon."
As per the standard operating procedures, the parents of the individuals and other people who might have been exposed have been notified and were recommended and offered to undergo testing via an email, CBS Boston reported.
Those who will test positive from the test results will be followed up with an evaluation and recommendation for treatment said Scott Zoback, the Interim Director of Communication for DPH. This way, it could prevent the development of active tuberculosis disease.
There is no available information about the patient who contracted tuberculosis and if he or she is a student at the child care or is a staff member.
One of the parents, Katy Quissell, who is also a public health professor at Boston University, said that it is a scary disease but she is not "terribly concerned." She still dropped her daughter off at the center on Tuesday. She added, "Kids tend to not be as contagious and they do not spread it as easily as adults do." She will, however, still bring her child to the doctor for testing and for precautionary measures. Quissell said that she will have her daughter have a chest X-Ray and skin TB test done.
If anyone of the children or staff acquired tuberculosis, they will not test positive until around three weeks from when they were first exposed.
Tuberculosis symptoms include coughing that lasts three weeks or more. Other times, a person who has tuberculosis would cough out blood or phlegm. One would also feel fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, fever, and chills.
