Uniform standards proposed for Colorado universities
All students attending Colorado universities may soon be required to complete tests for the lung disease tuberculosis.
Sen. Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley) introduced the bill Jan. 9 that will screen students attending Colorado universities for tuberculosis.
If passed, the law would take effect July 1 of this year.
Renfroe said his bill will require all incoming students to complete a questionnaire to determine if they are at risk for TB. Students with risk factors would be asked to submit to a skin or blood test to determine if they have the infection.
“We ought to have uniform standards for all universities,” Renfroe said.
CU already mandates that all incoming students and those who test positive for risk factors must be tested for TB.
Kate Compton, a freshman international affairs major, said she feels better knowing that CU already tests for TB.
“It’s reassuring knowing that the school was on top of this issue. I feel a lot safer knowing that the school already tests,” Compton said.
Last summer 39 students enrolled in the CU School of Education were tested for TB after their research associate tested positive for the illness. Another case involved the death of a 19-year-old Nepali student at CSU-Pueblo, who died from the illness.
Officials from Wardenburg Health Center said that high risk individuals are international students and students who study abroad or travel to high risk countries. According to the Stop TB Partnership Web site, high risk areas include India, China, South America and Kenya.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, within the past five years, two students from Colorado universities have died from TB. Each year an average of two cases are found in students enrolled in Colorado universities.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, TB is highly contagious and is spread through the air. When a person breathes in the TB bacteria, it settles into the lungs and begins to grow.
TB is unlikely to spread with casual contact; however, a danger still exists since students at CU live in dormitories and work in close proximity together every day.
“I think students everywhere should be tested for it, especially if it is highly contagious,” said Jennifer Cronin, a freshman business major.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Stephanie Shepard at stephanie.shepard@colorado.edu.
