Dakota County Public Health and Lakeville Area Schools confirmed Tuesday that someone at Lakeville South High School (LSHS) was diagnosed with active tuberculosis.

Health officials didn’t state whether it was a student or staff member, but added there’s no further risk of exposure at the school.

Dakota County Public Health added that it has worked closely with the school district and the Minnesota Department of Health to do a contact investigation, and determined that most people at LSHS were not at a high risk exposure for tuberculosis. Health officials identified a small group of people who were in close contact with the person who had tuberculosis and will screen them to see if the disease spread.

“It can be contagious, but it usually requires a fair amount of close contact with people,” explains Dr. Beth Thielen, an infectious disease physician at M Health Fairview. “So, it’s not as much an issue with really casual contact, it’s more sustained contact, particularly in areas where there’s fairly minimal air circulation. So being in places close where there’s a lot of breathing the same air over long periods of time is the biggest risk factor.”

“In the United States and other high resource settings, we have largely stamped out TB, we have relatively few cases, but in other parts of the world, it is significantly more common, particularly among travelers outside the United States,” she says.

Lakeville Area Schools sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the following statement:

“The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our number one priority. We can confirm that an individual at Lakeville South High School has been diagnosed with active tuberculosis. Lakeville Area Schools has partnered closely with Dakota County Public Health and the Minnesota Department of Health to support a thorough contact investigation. Only a small group of individuals was determined to be close contacts. They have been communicated with directly and will be screened. The vast majority of students and staff are not at high risk for exposure to active tuberculosis, and there is no further risk of exposure at the school.” 

Dakota County Health says if there are unexpected findings, they will determine the need to include additional people for testing. They also say if you are a Lakeville South parent and have not received a follow-up letter, it means they don’t recommend testing for your student at this time.

MDH says in 2023, there were 108 counted cases of active Tuberculosis statewide. The 2024 cases are on track to be similar or a little higher than last year.

You can find more information on tuberculosis here.