An Yansheng, head of the Beijing Center for Tuberculosis
Prevention and Treatment, said on Tuesday there is no tuberculosis
epidemic in Beijing-based China Agricultural
University (CAU).
According to An, five CAU students confirmed to have
tuberculosis are now receiving treatment.
"We have tested 550 students and no more cases have been found,"
said An. "It is not an epidemic."
CAU identified its first TB case on January 17, when a student
in the Veterinary Department came to the campus clinic because of
physical discomfort. He was diagnosed a week later.
Another student from the same department was diagnosed on March
7 after he returned from his hometown.
Ten days later, a third student, who was coughing up blood, was
diagnosed with TB.
According to the university website, five cases have been
confirmed: three infectious and two non-infectious. Three cases
were from the Veterinary Department, one from the Agriculture and
Biological Techniques Department and the other from the Resources
and Environment Department.
But the rumor mill has cranked into high gear on campus.
Students left messages on the school website saying there were
actually more than 70 students in the Veterinary Department
infected with TB and the university was trying to hide the fact.
Students in other departments were scared to talk to those in the
three departments with infections, the Beijing News
reported.
"We want the university to tell us the truth, but no one
explains what is going on," a student told the paper.
"We are not hiding anything," said Qian Xuejun, head of the
university publicity department, "It should be the health
authority, not the university, to state whether there is really an
epidemic. We believe it is not serious and we don't want to arouse
panic."
Accord to An, the university has been cooperating with the
Haidian District TB prevention and control department and the
municipal health authorities since the cases were found. In the
first group of 90 students who had TB tests, 72 were "strongly
positive," which means they were infected with the TB virus.
"Testing 'strongly positive' does not mean you have the disease.
China has a high proportion of TB positive and the ratio in this
university is still normal," said An.
The second group of students had the test in late March. An said
there were no more cases found.
"The five students have been given medical treatment and are
being monitored. Those who are strongly positive have been given
preventive medicines. Everything is under control," An said.
The center found no specific source of the infection and cannot
confirm that the five students transmitted the infection to each
other.
For the most part, campus life goes on normally. "I have heard a
bit of it, but my work is not affected at all," said Gu Xiaohong, a
teacher in the English Department. "Most students in my department
are not disturbed, and all classes are going on as usual. There
have been no apparent measures taken by the university."
She Liu Yuqing, head of the Haidian TB Prevention and Treatment
Department, said the rumors and worries come from ignorance about
TB. "A lot of people do not know what TB is and how it is
transferred among people. Few know the difference between being
positive and having the disease. We should work harder to inform
people."
An said, "We fear media reports might bring negative attention
to this incident, but we also know the media can help us educate
people. We hope the reports can clarify the case and kill the
rumor."
Ninety percent of people infected with the TB virus have
asymptomatic latent infection, with a 10 percent lifetime chance
that it will progress to active TB disease.
According to the World Health Organization, if left untreated
each person with active TB disease will infect on average between
10 and 15 people every year.
Infections can lie dormant for years, and while the percentage
of those who develop the active disease is small, compromise of the
immune system can increase the chances of becoming sick.
China reports an average of 1.4 million new TB cases a year,
second only to India. Since implementing the DOTS prevention and
care program in 1990, however, the incidence of the disease has
dropped by about 30 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn April 5, 2005)