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Campus Alert Archive
AU

Public health notice, November 1, 2021

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked
DCpublic healthadvisoryhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On November 1, 2021, American University notified students, faculty, staff, and families that a residential undergraduate student had tested positive for tuberculosis. The DC Department of Health led the public-health response, conducting contact tracing and directly notifying community members who needed testing.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
American University
Private R2 · DC
All AU cases →
~14,000 studentsAU Alerts
Official alert policy
Read when and how AU says it will use AU Alerts: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Verified verbatim1782 chars
Dear American University Community, The DC Department of Health (DC DOH) has informed us that a residential undergraduate student at American University has tested positive for tuberculosis (TB). The student is currently residing off campus to receive treatment. TB is a disease that can spread through the air when an infected person coughs or otherwise releases the bacteria from their lungs or throat. Prolonged close contact in the same airspace is typically required, and it cannot be spread by surfaces, toilets, clothes, food, water, handshakes, or other casual contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The DC DOH is conducting contact tracing and directly notifying any students, faculty, or staff who may need to be tested. The University is working closely with the DC DOH. In keeping with public health protocols, the DC DOH determines who must be notified or tested based on their level of exposure. Please know that methods we have used to protect against COVID-19, in particular the high masking compliance that our community has shown, will also be helpful in protecting against tuberculosis exposure. If you have questions and concerns, please see these Frequently Asked Questions. In addition, a community webinar will be held from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2 to share information and respond to questions. You can learn more about tuberculosis, how it spreads, prevention, and treatment by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The wellbeing of our community is our top priority. We will share updates as needed. Sincerely, Fanta Aw Vice President of Undergraduate Enrollment, Campus Life and Inclusive Excellence David S Reitman, M.D. Medical Director, American University Student Health Center
Lane B flip 2026-10-12: full text of the official 'Dear American University Community' letter dated November 1, 2021 recovered from the Student Affairs page via Wayback capture 20230702205823 (live 403 from this network). Replaced the reconstruction; the page's date line is carried in timestampApprox, not in the text. Three prior annotations that quoted or described reconstruction wording absent from the official letter were removed, and the unsupported clock-time timestamp was dropped (the record shows a date only).
UPDATEEmail
Verified verbatim1637 chars
Dear American University Community, We wanted to provide an update on the contact tracing process that the DC Department of Health (DC DOH) is conducting after a positive case of active tuberculosis (TB) was confirmed earlier this week. DOH is directly notifying students, faculty, or staff by email who may need to be tested. If you are determined to be a close contact, you will be notified and/or tested based on your level of exposure. The email, which will come from @dc.gov, will be an encrypted message from DOH which you will need to sign into for access. Earlier this week, a community forum was held on the case with medical professionals from DOH, along with AU leadership. You may view the webinar at your convenience. Please know that we are here to support any community member who may be affected by this process. The AU Student Health Center is available for visits and consultations regarding any health-related concerns. If you do receive a contact tracing letter from DOH, we encourage you to reach out to DC Health directly with any questions you may have. You can learn more about tuberculosis, how it spreads, prevention, and treatment by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  and the CDC’s Questions and Answers about TB. Additional information is also available in AU’s Frequently Asked Questions page. The wellbeing of our community remains our top priority. We will continue to share updates as needed. Sincerely, Fanta Aw Vice President of Undergraduate Enrollment, Campus Life & Inclusive Excellence David S Reitman, M.D. Medical Director, American University Student Health Center
Lane B flip 2026-10-12: full text of the official 'Dear American University Community' letter dated November 5, 2021 recovered from the Student Affairs page via Wayback capture 20230702205803 (live 403 from this network). Replaced the reconstruction; the page's date line is carried in timestampApprox, not in the text. Three prior annotations that quoted or described reconstruction wording absent from the official letter were removed, and the unsupported clock-time timestamp was dropped (the record shows a date only).
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, an AI model read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

Dear American University Community, The DC Department of Health (DC DOH) has informed us that a residential undergraduate student at American University has tested positive for tuberculosis (TB). The student is currently residing off campus to receive treatment. TB is a disease that can spread through the air when an infected person coughs or otherwise releases the bacteria from their lungs or throat. Prolonged close contact in the same airspace is typically required, and it cannot be spread by surfaces, toilets, clothes, food, water, handshakes, or other casual contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The DC DOH is conducting contact tracing and directly notifying any students, faculty, or staff who may need to be tested. The University is working closely with the DC DOH. In keeping with public health protocols, the DC DOH determines who must be notified or tested based on their level of exposure. Please know that methods we have used to protect against COVID-19, in particular the high masking compliance that our community has shown, will also be helpful in protecting against tuberculosis exposure. If you have questions and concerns, please see these Frequently Asked Questions. In addition, a community webinar will be held from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2 to share information and respond to questions. You can learn more about tuberculosis, how it spreads, prevention, and treatment by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The wellbeing of our community is our top priority. We will share updates as needed. Sincerely, Fanta Aw Vice President of Undergraduate Enrollment, Campus Life and Inclusive Excellence David S Reitman, M.D. Medical Director, American University Student Health Center

  • Sourceabsent0/0

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

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  • Hazardabsent0/0

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

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  • Locationabsent0/0

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

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  • Guidanceabsent0/0

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

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  • Timeabsent0/0

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

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  • Impactabsent0/0

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

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Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

Tuberculosis remains a notifiable disease handled jointly by universities and local health authorities. In this November 2021 case, American University announced that a residential undergraduate had been diagnosed with TB and that the DC Department of Health was leading contact tracing. The student newspaper The Eagle reported that DC Health experts joined AU health officials and that the agency would directly notify anyone needing testing. The case echoed a separate July 2018 AU TB diagnosis involving an off-campus graduate student, but the 2021 case was distinct in involving a residential undergraduate and a campuswide notice. The episode is a model of proportionate public-health messaging: an alert that informs the whole community while narrowly defining who must actually take action.
Analysis

Key Findings

The notice repeatedly gated action to people directly contacted by DC Health, preventing the worried-well from overwhelming testing resources
TB transmission was described as airborne via coughing, speaking, or singing, distinct from the vaccine framing of measles/meningitis notices
DC Health, not the university, held the lead public-health role including contact tracing and notification
The case is distinct from a separate July 2018 AU TB case involving an off-campus graduate student
Outcome
DC Health determined who required testing based on exposure level and directly contacted close contacts. The university emphasized that most people exposed to TB do not develop active disease and that the risk to the broader community was low.
Provenance

Sources

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Official
  2. Official
  3. Student Paper
  4. Student Paper
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "American University: Public health notice, November 1, 2021." Incident of November 1, 2021. Added May 2026; last updated October 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/american-university-tuberculosis-case-2021-11-01/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
tuberculosispublic-healthcontact-tracingdcresidentialadvisory
Added May 2026Updated October 2026Via ingestion