Will County, Joliet District 204 responding to tuberculosis case: Parents in ‘a little panic mode’

A student at Joliet West High School has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and is currently receiving “appropriate medical treatment,” according to an April 2 notice from the district, working in partnership with Sunny Hill Tuberculosis Clinic in Joliet.

Joliet Township High School District 204 notified only students and staff members who potentially had close contact with that student, according to the notice.

“The Illinois Department of Public Health/Tuberculosis Control Division recommends that ALL contacts to an active case of tuberculosis, need tuberculosis screening,” Dr. Dan Garganera, medical director for the Sunny Hill Tuberculosis Clinic, said in the notice to Joliet West families.

Tuberculosis, a bacterial infection primarily (although not always) affecting the lungs, is usually spread through the air, according to the CDC website.

Nevertheless, tuberculosis typically requires prolonged close contact with a person infected with active tuberculosis for transmission to occur, according to the notice.

Tuberculosis germs are not spread by “shaking someone’s hand, sharing food or drink, touching bed linens or toilet seats, sharing toothbrushes or kissing,” the CDC website also said.

Garganera said during a tuberculosis outbreak, a town hall meeting is typically held at the school, so parents can be educated, ask questions and understand what prolonged close contact actually means.

“And this isn’t even an outbreak. It’s one kid,” Garganera said.

In this case, a notice was sent to families and “300 people want to be tested,” Garganera said.

“So now it’s created a little panic mode on all these parents,” Garganera said.

Some families also chose to see their primary care physician or go to urgent care, he said.

“I have pediatricians calling the clinic asking, ‘What the heck is going on?‘” Garganera said.

Garganera said prolonged close contact would include people who live with the person infected with tuberculosis germs, “close buddies who hang out every day” and students who sit near the student with tuberculosis for many hours each day.

“If you’re in a fully enclosed area like an air plane and a patient is coughing while you’re flying from L.A. to New York – that’s absolutely high risk," Garganera said. “But the classroom isn’t necessarily because of ventiliation.”

A student who sits across the room for one class period a day is not prolonged close contact – and neither is taking the same gym class or eating lunch in the same cafeteria, he said.

“Three hundred kids – that’s a lot," Garganera said. “That’s a lot of kids to do tests and X-rays on. But I don’t know how they did their contact tracing.”

Currently there are two types of tests for tuberculosis infection: the TB blood test and the TB skin test, according to the Center for Disease Control website.

Garganera foreign-born students will need a blood test due to the fact they receive a Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine and a chest X-ray.

American-born students need the skin test because they don’t receive the BCG vaccine, he said. They, too, need a chest X-ray, he said.

Because contacts should be tested, School District 204 informed Joliet West families that Sunny Hill Tuberculosis Clinic offers free tuberculosis testing and provided information for accessing it in the notice.

Symptoms of tuberculosis include persistent coughing, fever, chills, pain in the chest, night sweats and weight loss, according to the CDC website.

Anyone with these symptoms should contact their health care provider or local health department, the CDC website said.

“Everyone who has a cough for three weeks or more should be checked for tuberculosis,” Garganera said on March 24 at an event marking the 100th year for the Sunny Hill Tuberculosis Clinic.

If a Joliet West family did not receive a notice, it means their student was not exposed and is not considered a contact, according to the notice.

The student diagnosed with tuberculosis was advised to stay home until they are no longer contagious, according to the notice.

In 2024, 19 active cases of tuberculosis were detected in Will County. The four fatal cases in Will County in 2024 involved three that went undiagnosed and one that was detected too late.

There were 353 tuberculosis cases in Illinois last year, including the 19 in Will County.

The U.S. had 9,615 tuberculosis cases in 2023, which is slightly more than the 9,536 cases in 2015.

Tuberculosis remains a larger health problem in Africa and Asia.

In the U.S., the largest number of tuberculosis cases are found in immigrants.

Garganera said he wished tuberculosis received more attention.

“Will County is the third highest in the state for TB,” Garganera said, adding that Cook County is first and DuPage County is second.

Joliet West will continue following all health guidelines in partnership with Sunny Hill Tuberculosis Clinic, according to the notice.

For information, call the Sunny Hill Tuberculosis Clinic at 815-740-4420.