I received a letter from the local high school where I had been taking adult education courses – the basket weaving and quilting kind, not pole dancing or stripperobics. The letter came with the pamphlet: “Everything you need to know about TB.”
Unless it was national TB awareness month, this couldn’t be good. Surprise, surprise – the letter informed me that one of the school students had TB. Yes, as in deadly and contagious, oh-look-I’ve-coughed-up-some-blood-and-a-lung, tuberculosis.
My stomach dropped and I felt a chill, natural reactions for anyone receiving potentially bad news. They also happen to be the symptoms of active TB. Greeeat. I broke into a sweat and lost my appetite – even more symptoms! Medic!
Luckily, the only case of consumption, at least in my class, turned out to be the eating of mini-muffins on the last day. I breathed a sigh of relief at full-lung capacity and lit a cigarette to celebrate. Kidding. I got lit instead.
This experience took me back to my compulsory school days. That’s when close contact with lots of students opened the door to mumps, measles, pink eye, hoof-and-mouth disease, herpes, and all that other good stuff.
ABC Afterschool Special Addendum:
Get to know TB!
- There really is a World TB Day, devoted to spreading tuberculosis, er, information about it, on March 24th.
- TB of the lungs can be spread with a sneeze. Note to self: buy surgical mask.
- Got a bad cough that’s lasted over 3 weeks? Maybe you’re infected. See a doctor.
- Don’t be afraid; there is treatment out there. But we’re cutting down the rainforests too quickly to ever find it. Kidding.
- Remember the movie, “Song of Bernadette”? It was based on the true story of a nun who suffered from TB of the bone. Sure, she died, but she became a SAINT!
- For more information, go to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s TB Web site: www.cdc.gov/tb
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