TB case at Fort Mill middle school under investigation by SC health agency

There’s an active exposure case to tuberculosis at a Fort Mill school, the state Health Department said Thursday.

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The South Carolina Department of Public Health identified one exposure at Pleasant Knoll Middle School and is working with the Fort Mill School District to identify anyone else who may have been exposed or needs to be tested, according to the Health Department.

The Health Department didn’t give details on whether the exposure was a student or staff member, or how it occurred in the school.

Pleasant Knoll has nearly 1,000 students. As of mid-school year, it was the largest of the Fort Mill district’s six middle schools by enrollment.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease typically found in the lungs. It spreads person to person through the air. Without treatment, about 10% of people who are exposed to the bacteria develop the disease at some point in their lifetimes, according to the health department.

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The state averaged 87 tuberculosis cases per year in the past five years.

One quarter of people worldwide are infected with it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. There are more than 1.4 million tuberculosis-related deaths each year worldwide, according to the S.C. Health Department.

More men than women typically get tuberculosis and in South Carolina, most cases occur in Black males, state health officials said.

The Health Department lists facts related to tuberculosis in schools here.

This is a developing story.

This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 12:34 PM with the headline “TB case at Fort Mill middle school under investigation by SC health agency.”

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