Emergencies, warnings and advisories

Suspected Case of Active Tuberculosis at WWU

A Western Washington University student seen at the WWU Student Health Center this week has what may be active tuberculosis (TB).  While testing to confirm the diagnosis is being completed, the student is following isolation instructions to prevent exposure to others.  If confirmed as having tuberculosis, the student – who lives in campus housing – will remain in isolation until determined to be no longer contagious by the Whatcom County Health Department. 

Western officials are working with the Health Department to identify and evaluate individuals who may have had significant close contact with the student. If TB is confirmed, these individuals will be individually notified and asked to be tested for possible tuberculosis exposure with a simple skin test. Because TB is uncommon in the general U.S. population, and because the TB test is not 100% accurate, the risk of false positives is much higher in people who are not close contacts; therefore, those who did not have significant contact with the student should not be tested.  The Health Department will determine who should be tested for TB infection.

The health and safety of WWU students, faculty and staff is a top concern at Western. The University is working closely with the Whatcom County Health Department and will send updates to the campus community as additional information becomes available.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection, usually of the lungs, spread when an individual who has active pulmonary TB coughs or sneezes. Most infections occur when people directly inhale TB germs over an extended length of time. Brief or casual contact with an infected person does not spread the disease. Most people who become infected with tuberculosis are able to contain it and never develop the disease.  TB infection without disease is not contagious and can be treated to prevent progression to active disease.

For more information about tuberculosis please see the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) web site at http://www.cdc.gov/tb.

 

In the event of a crisis at Western Washington University, we will use every communication tool at our disposal to share information with the campus community as quickly as possible. These include:

• The Western homepage
  • http://www.wwu.edu/
• The Emergency Stormline/Hotline
  • (360) 650-6500
• This WWU Emergency Communications Web site
  • http://emergency.wwu.edu/
• E-mail messages
• Cell-phone text messages

Students and employees can help us by logging in to Web4U and making sure that their contact information is up to date. It is important that we know your main phone numbers, including cell phones; it's also helpful for the university to have contact information for your family members in the event of an emergency.

Planning for an emergency

Western Washington University is active in its efforts to prepare for emergency situations and disasters. Read more about Western's emergency preparations in this FAQ.