“I can’t believe I caught tuberculosis in 2022.” For this teacher of high school, in the North, the shock is still severe. Since the beginning of December, she has been undergoing a preventive treatment which must last three months in order to eradicate the bacteria. Because since the start of the school year in September, it is at least the second school affected by this lung disease in the Lille metropolis.
The first alert took place in November. The teachers of the Loucheur high school, in Roubaix, had exercised their right of withdrawal after a case of tuberculosis dating back to May. They demanded that all students and staff be screened. At the time, a screening campaign was finally conducted, revealing two teachers and five students who tested positive for tuberculosis, according to the testimony of two teachers, who preferred to remain anonymous.
“Colleagues are very worried about this situation”
Before the end of the year holidays, it is in a high school in Halluin that tuberculosis seems to have found a new home. “I have no symptoms and I am treated, so I am not contagious, they told me at the hospital. But I am convinced of having been contaminated within my establishment, ”explains, to 20 Minutes, the professor who also wishes to remain anonymous.
According to her, it could be a student, absent since September due to tuberculosis. The teacher regrets that it was necessary to wait until the day before the All Saints holidays to carry out screenings in the class of the sick high school student and with the teaching team. “Colleagues are very worried about this situation,” she laments. Especially since, according to our information, three students are undergoing treatment against tuberculosis in this school.
Contacted, the rectorate of Lille ensures that it is not aware of other cases of tuberculosis than those of the Loucheur high school in Roubaix, revealed in November. A hiccup in the follow-up of this contagious infection? “Tuberculosis is a notifiable disease”, assures the Regional Health Agency (ARS).
Health survey
Also contacted by 20 Minutesthe center for the fight against tuberculosis (Clat) at the Dron hospital in Tourcoing, a reference unit in the metropolis of Lille, remains silent for the moment on the case of Halluin.
According to data from Public Health France, 120 to 150 cases of tuberculosis are identified each year in the Nord department. “A health investigation is carried out for each of these cases in order to identify the people likely to have been in contact with the patient and to put in place the appropriate management measures, in particular screening, assures the ARS. The majority of these cases in fact involve one or more communities frequented by the patient, whether they are schools, associations or companies. »
In November, the teachers of the Loucheur high school deplored the lack of communication from the head of the establishment following the screening of the disease in a student. They wanted to “use this case study to improve, with the rectorate, the management of tuberculosis prevention in the establishment”. Obviously, it is not won.