TB tests negative at Fayetteville day care

Fayetteville, N.C. — Tuberculosis tests given to children and staff at a Fayetteville day care have returned negative results, officials said Tuesday.

Skin tests were administered Friday to at least 140 children and staff members at Highland Learning Center to determine if they had been exposed to TB. School officials suspected a substitute teacher, who worked in various classrooms, had contracted the respiratory illness.

Cumberland County Health Department officials said there are no indications from the tests that anyone has TB. Officials will test the children and staff members again in eight weeks.

TB is an airborne respiratory disease that is transmitted when an infected person speaks, coughs or sneezes. Exposure does not guarantee infection. A person can contract TB and be symptom-free. These cases, called inactive, are not contagious. Inactive TB can become active at a later date.

The most common treatment is a course of antibiotics.

Every child at the center was prescribed 16 doses of medication as a precaution, which will be administered by a nurse over the next eight weeks. Parents can opt out of the treatment schedule.

A question-and-answer session for parents will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the fellowship hall of Highland Presbyterian Church.