Two students in Montgomery County have tuberculosis

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from "2 Montgomery students have TB" in The Washington Post.

An elementary school student and a middle school student in Silver Spring have contracted tuberculosis (TB). According to school systems spokesman Brian Edwards, one of the infected students attends Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School, and the other student transferred to Kemp Mill Elementary School after briefly attending Glenallan Elementary. Administrators at these schools promptly sent letters home to parents warning them about the cases of TB.

Edwards said that students at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School, Kemp Mill Elementary School and Glenallan Elementary School will be given a TB skin test on Feb 8 and the results of the test will be checked on Feb 10. Students who do not test positive for TB will be given a yellow "clearance card". Eight to 12 weeks later, a second test will be administered to students at these schools to test for delayed infections.

The two infected students have not been attending school. They have both received treatment and are no longer contagious, Edwards said.

TB is a disease caused by bacteria that usually affects the lungs. It is spread through coughing and sneezing while in contact with an infected individual, according to Centers for Disease Control and county health officials. People who have TB may not show symptoms or be contagious right away; however, if not treated, they could develop TB later in life.

In 2003, 1.5 percent of children 14 years of age and younger became infected with TB. In Maryland, this disease affects one in every 16,000 people, according to the county Health Department.

For more information about tuberculosis in Montgomery County Schools click here .