Earlier on Friday, a school nurse notified officials of an infection. Barbara Cole, director for disease control for the Riverside County Department of Public Health, did not confirm the information, emphasizing that they are at the beginning of an investigation into the claims. Test results can take several weeks. Meanwhile, intensive cleaning was done at the school over the weekend, but no further precautions were taken. It is known that the students at issue are not currently in school.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leprosy is transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets and family members are most at risk for catching the disease. Some parents did not send their children to school on Tuesday, though it is considered that healthy people are normally not vulnerable to leprosy, and the initial stages of the disease are easy to treat.