Health officials must foot the bill for an FWCS student being treated for tuberculosis

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - Health officials say state and local agencies must pay for the treatment of a Fort Wayne Community Schools student diagnosed with a drug-resistant tuberculosis strain.

According to the Associated Press, it will cost $250,000 in medication alone to treat the student in the first year of a two-year treatment regimen. State and county health officials will share the costs.

FWCS officials said the infected student was in an all-day program at Anthis Career Center and exposure to other students was minimal. 

Fort Wayne-Allen County Board of Health spokesman John Silcox says the county must pay for treatment of highly infectious, communicable diseases like tuberculosis if the ailing person cannot pay those costs.

He says it's unclear what other treatments or surgeries the student will need. FWCS officials will not release the name of the infected student due to privacy laws. That student remains in isolation and undergoing treatment.

No one else in contact with the student has been identified with active TB, but testing is ongoing.

For questions on the infection, call the health department's TB hotline at (260) 449-8739.