Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater confirmed a case of tuberculosis on campus Tuesday.

The female student?s case of tuberculosis was identified through a routine skin test, which Associate Director of University Health and Counseling Ruth Swisher said the university administers to students involved in certain activities. The student was then hospitalized for treatment.

?This should have minimal effect on the campus community,? Swisher said. ?We are letting everyone that was in contact with the student know about the situation. If a person was less than three feet away from the student, they should be tested.?

According to UW-Madison clinical professor in the school of medicine, John P. Schilling, the major symptoms of tuberculosis are coughing, fevers, fatigue and weight loss. It is an infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs. In addition, it is an airborne disease that can be transmitted when a person sneezes, coughs or even talks. It can be deadly if left untreated.

There are two different types of tuberculosis, said Craig Roberts, University Health Services epidemiologist at the UW-Madison, latent tuberculosis and active tuberculosis. A person can carry the latent tuberculosis organism and never experience any symptoms of the disease.

The UW-Whitewater student will be allowed to go back to class after doctors deem her healthy, but Schilling said it could take weeks before the student is no longer contagious.

?The procedure for this is that she will have to be quarantined while she is taking the medicine,? Swisher said. ?Once she is cleared, she can come back to campus.?

This is only the third outbreak of tuberculosis that Swisher has seen in her career at the university. Craig Roberts, also of UHS in Madison, said that they see about 2000 cases of latent tuberculosis on campus every year and about one case of active tuberculosis every other year.

?This is rare, but sometimes it does happen,? Swisher said.

According to Swisher, students who have come in contact with the student infected have a minimal risk of contracting the disease.

?[The public health department will] look at the people she has been around,? Schilling said. ?Then they will do a skin test, and from that, they can decide how infectious the person is.?

Schilling said the student will be on medication for roughly six months before she is fully recovered.