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NAU reports case of suspected TB

Doctors are treating a Northern Arizona University student for a suspected case of tuberculosis.

Ten other students who were in close contact with the student are also being tested for TB.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that usually attacks the lungs.

The university health center says the student was enrolled in a summer intensive English language program that is offered to international students.  

TB is not spread by touch or by kissing or sharing eating utensils.

It can be spread when an infected person expels respiratory droplets while coughing or sneezing.

In an email to faculty and staff, health center officials wrote that tuberculosis is not easily spread.

Even those with extensive contact with a TB patient have only a 1 in 5 chance of contracting the disease.