I’ve worked with Professional Tutors of America in the past to earn a bit of extra cash on the side. They actually pay more per hour (not counting benefits, of course) than my full time job, so they certainly make it worth my time.
They are requesting me to get a TB test before I can renew my contract this year. I’ve never, to my knowledge, been requested to take a test for tuberculosis. The national rate is 4.9 per 100,000, and is concentrated in the prison and homeless populations, as well as those with HIV. I understand why they wouldn’t want somebody with TB working with the students, but aren’t there more prevalent contagious diseases that they should be concerned with, if they are going to require this test?
Perhaps it deals with some sort of education system requirements?
I don’t think you’re allowed to attend public school without proof of a TB vaccination. It would make sense anyone else who comes into contact with students on a daily basis be held to the same standard.
We teachers are exposed to a lot more people than civilians are. I am most certainly positive for TB for example. (It is not as scary as it sounds.) Asking teachers to take TB tests is fairly routine and quite reasonable.
I had to take one last week. I work for a major hospital, though am not in health care and I seldom lay eyes on a patient. I just checked our policy and it doesn’t say why we are required to take it, just that we are. Wikipedia says that in the U.S., TB is mainly an older people’s disease. But there was that scare last year; they’re not going to drop the testing.
TB is mostly contained in the US, but it’s still prevalent enough that you have to keep a close eye on it. Therefore, health care workers, teachers, and other high-exposure professions can require them upon hire & yearly beyond that. Moreso here in SF, which has the highest TB rate in the US.
That said, lots of people might have TB, but it’s highly treatable. And not everyone who tests positive actually has TB at all.
It also depends on where in the country you are. TB tests here in CA are routine in many fields. We have one of the highest rates of TB in the country.
Something I found interesting from the CDC data, Caucasians have the lowest TB rate at 1.3 per 100,000 and Asians have the highest at 25.5 per 100,000. (as of the 2005 data)
Interesting, I had no idea it was such a common requirement. It [del]sort of[/del] makes sense, but it just seems like there would be more dangerous things to worry about. Is this not the case?
At first, I thought that since I lived in New Mexico the PTA administration thought I lived in a foreign country, and that’s why they were requesting the test. It wouldn’t have surprised me. :smack:
ETA: Also interesting that you guys mention California, because PTA is based near LA.
Not really. It’s contagious via airborne transmission and the vaccine is not recommended for use in the US except for in rare cases, plus there are forms of TB resistant to multiple antibiotics that are extremely difficult to treat. For other similarly easy to transmit and dangerous illnesses, we have vaccines.
I think this is the crux of my lack of understanding. A teacher supervises, let’s say, 19 students. How is screening 5% of the population effective in stopping it’s spread?
I’m probably just being dense. I mean, I understand it, but it seems like more of a liability/feel good thing than anything, to me.
The tuberculine test produces a blister (it may not be the word in English) in IIRC over 90% of the Spanish population, but that doesn’t mean you have TB, all it says is that your immune system has encountered the bug before. I got it done years ago, don’t remember why, and the doctor and nurse had a bit of a discussion and needed to look up how to measure the blister because whether the test is positive or not depends on its diameter and mine was kidney-shaped.
I’ve only ever seen the Mantoux tuberculin test done; I’m pretty sure it’s the usual one in the US at least. If you react to that or have a history of positive reactions to it, then IIRC it’s time for a chest x-ray to check for active TB/previous damage. I’ve known two different people who work in health care who react positively to the skin test but do not have the disease.
Teachers in your neck of the wood only come into contact with 19 students in their working lifetime? Crikey.
Usually it would be more like 19 kids in a class, perhaps come into contact with two or three extra classes while covering for colleagues, doing assemblies etc, and then repeat each and every year for ten years or more. I went to a school with 1000+ pupils, it wouldn’t surprise me if e.g. Mr Bolt the head of Math (35 years or so teaching) had come into contact with ten thousand kids or more. Even without factoring in that all the kids have families, there’s potentially a lot of people to screen if you suddenly find that a teacher has been carrying TB for a few years.