200 Israelis at a college and a newspaper to be tested for tuberculosis

Over 200 people — students and staff at a Rishon Lezion college, and workers at a leading Israeli newspaper — were ordered Tuesday to undergo testing for tuberculosis, sowing panic among the school community and prompting fear of an outbreak.

A first-year college student in his 20s was recently diagnosed with tuberculosis and quarantined at Shmuel Harofe Hospital in Beer Ya’akov. Though he was in good condition Tuesday, his tuberculosis symptoms persisted. According to Ynet, the student, who has not been named, was still receiving medication to treat the infection.

The College of Management Academic Studies notified 160 students and staff who had been in prolonged contact with the student that they had to be tested to ensure they had not contracted the disease. Another 60 employees of the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, where the student works, were also to be tested for infection.

“In recent days we received notice from the Health Ministry according to which a case of tuberculosis was discovered in a freshman student at the communications school,” the college staff said in a letter to students. “A group of students, who were identified by the Health Ministry as those who were in prolonged contract with the ill student, will need to be tested in order to ensure they didn’t contract the illness.”

According to a Ynet report, some students at the college were panicked by the news of a possible tuberculosis outbreak at the school. One student who received the notice to be tested said, “It’s very stressful and very unpleasant, especially when you don’t know who the infected student is.”

“They are trying to calm us and say that the chance of infection is very low, but despite this there is hysteria,” she said.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that the risk of infection was very low and required prolonged contact with the infected host.