The Mercer County-Celina City Health Department Tuberculosis program, the Mercer County Commissioners and the Mercer County Board of Health have agreed to the following Tuberculosis Testing Policy to be utilized by all schools located in Mercer County. This policy has been developed in response to the rescinding of Ohio Administrative Code 3701-15-04.
| | A. | Any new employee, or student born in a country other than the United States, must present documented evidence of having either a negative tuberculin skin test as defined by the "American Thoracic Society" ("Mantoux Test 5 TU PPD" preferred) or a negative QuantiFERON®-TB Gold test, completed within ninety (90) days before their first school day.
|
| | | (Because QuantiFERON testing has not yet been approved by the FDA for those under the age of eighteen (18), it will only be used for adult testing.)
|
| | B. | If an employee/student has a history of a positive Tuberculosis skin test, the client should not have any further skin testing initiated. Instead, a physician's assessment and statement verifying the absence of active tuberculosis, is needed to be completed within ninety (90) days before their first school day.
|
| | C. | Anyone having a positive reaction to either of the above tuberculosis tests, must have a chest x-ray and any other medical and laboratory examinations deemed necessary by either the physician, medical director of Mercer County-Celina City Health Department or the TB Control unit of Mercer County-Celina City Health Department, to determine the absence of active tuberculosis in a communicable state.
|
| | D. | Currently employed school personnel and students who have a documented tuberculin skin test convert from negative to positive (as defined by the "American Thoracic Society") shall:
|
| | | Have a chest x-ray and any other medical and laboratory examinations deemed necessary by either the physician, medical director of Mercer County-Celina City Health Department or the Tuberculosis Control unit of Mercer County-Celina City Health Department, to determine the absence of tuberculosis in a communicable state. Testing will be determined according to the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control. (R.C. 3313.71 and 3313.72)
|
| | E. | Determination as to need and frequency of tuberculin testing and other appropriate examinations of employees and students shall be at the discretion of the Tuberculosis Control unit of the Mercer County-Celina City Health Department, using recommendations of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
|
| | F. | If testing is completed in a district other than Mercer County or facility other than Mercer County-Celina City Health Department, the school shall submit any positive test result to the Mercer County-Celina City Health Department Tuberculosis Control unit.
|
The Ohio Department of Health adopts, by reference, the following tuberculosis standards:
| | A. | The recommendations of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as set out in "Core Curriculum on Tuberculosis: What Every Clinician Should Know."
|
| | | Copies of the "Core Curriculum" may be obtained at "www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/corecurr/default.htm", or by requesting a copy in writing to the "Office of Communications, CDC/NCHSTP, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop E-07, Atlanta, GA 30333, or by facsimile request at (404) 639-2857.
|
| | B. | The recommendations of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Thoracic Society, and Infectious Diseases Society of America as set out in "Treatment of Tuberculosis," "American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2003; 167."
|
| | C. | The recommendations of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as set out in "Targeted Tuberculin Testing and Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection." "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Recommendations and Reports, Vol. 49. No. RR-6, June 9, 2000."
|
| | D. | The recommendations of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as set out in "Guidelines for Preventing the Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Health Care Facilities, 1994." "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Recommendations and Reports, Vol. 43, No. RR13, October 28, 1994."
|