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DPH lifts TB skin test for school children
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Posted on Aug 23 2000
The Department of Public Health has lifted the tuberculin skin testing requirement for school children following the recommendation by The American Thoracic Society, Center for Disease Control and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
“Screening of low-risk persons is discouraged because it diverts resources from activities of higher priority. In addition, a substantial proportion of tuberculin-test-positive persons from low-risk populations may have false-positive skin tests,” the national guideline on tuberculin testing said.
However, the immunization program requiring children to take vaccinations in polio, measles, influenza, etc. on the island remains unchanged.
According to Dr. Artin Mahmoudi, medical director for Tuberculosis Control, the best way to control tuberculosis in children has always been to treat, diagnose and prevent TB among adults.
While children in the Northern Marianas are considered low-risk, the incidence rate of tuberculosis in the CNMI is 15 times higher than the national rate in the U.S. mainland.
DPH representatives met with Board of Education and Public School System officials to explain this new policy.
Dr. Mahmoudi emphasized that tuberculosis is a controllable and curable disease thus, the need for people to see a physician if they experience signs of having TB.
“We are already in the 21st century and people still feel that TB is a death sentence, which is not true. The success rate of people who come to the Tuberculosis Control Program for treatment is excellent so there is no reason to be afraid of the disease,” he added.
Dr. Mahmoudi said the Tuberculosis Control Program in the CNMI is the best in the Pacific, which makes it easy for the local hospital to provide cure and prevent the spread of TB.
TB has been considered the single major communicable disease threat in the Northern Marianas as cases of tuberculosis here among nonresident workers have consistently climbed.
For fear that the situation may worsen, the CNMI government imposed a strict health screening program which include undergoing chest X-Ray and AIDS tests.
