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Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from San Diego County News Center official release and Times of San Diego and NBC 7 San Diego reporting790 chars
The County's Tuberculosis Program is working with the San Diego College of Continuing Education to notify students, employees and staff that they were potentially exposed to tuberculosis (TB). The potential exposure occurred at the Cesar E. Chavez campus, Room 307 (Computer Lab), from Nov. 27, 2023, to Feb. 29, 2024 on weekdays from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Because TB can linger in the air for several hours, people who used the computer lab later in the afternoons may also be at risk. Most people who become infected after exposure do not get sick right away -- this is called latent TB infection. Some who become infected will become ill in the future, sometimes even years later, if latent TB is not treated. For more information, call the County TB Control Program at (619) 692-8621.
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
The geographic precision of the exposure notice -- specifying Room 307 on weekdays 12:30-2:30 p.m. -- reflects the epidemiological principle that TB risk is dose-dependent: people sharing a small enclosed space for hours have significantly higher infection risk than those in larger or more ventilated settings.
The note that 'people who used the computer lab later in the afternoons may also be at risk' acknowledges that exhaled TB bacteria can remain viable in indoor air for several hours after an infectious person has left a space.
The three-month gap between the end of the exposure (February 29) and the public announcement (May 29) is characteristic of TB epidemiology: the disease incubates slowly, diagnosis requires culture confirmation that takes weeks, and contact tracing takes additional time.