Tuberculosis outbreak in El Paso county elementary school

HORIZON CITY -- Three more people tested positive for tuberculosis after retesting was conducted at Frank Macias Elementary School last week, city health officials said Thursday.

The El Paso Department of Public Health started an investigation in June after a person at the Horizon City school was found to have an active case of tuberculosis.

The three newest cases are believed to be latent tuberculosis, officials said. In all so far, 58 people at the elementary school have tested positive for latent tuberculosis. Two others are believed to be active tuberculosis.

The retesting is standard procedure typically conducted eight to 10 weeks after the last possible exposure to an active case of tuberculosis, officials said. The retesting is done because often during the first round of tests not enough time has passed for the bacteria to incubate and for the body to show a positive test result, officials said. Those who tested negative a second time will not need further testing.

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