Some families at Alexander Graham Middle School in Charlotte received letters this week warning that their children may have been exposed to tuberculosis on campus. The Mecklenburg County health department sent the notices to specific families, telling them they may have been near someone with tuberculosis at the school, located at 1800 Runnymede Lane.
The notification was first reported by WSOC-TV, which said the letters told families they may have been exposed at the school but did not specify exactly who was exposed or how many people were affected. Parents who received the letters were advised to contact the health department, which will likely consider testing based on how closely a child was in contact with the index case. Some families reached at the school's drop-off line told the station they had heard about the letters but had not received one themselves.
What Tuberculosis Exposure Actually Means
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that impacts the lungs and can spread through the air when an infected person coughs or talks, according to the station's report. The bacteria can remain in the air even after an infected person has left a room, and longer contact with someone carrying active TB increases the likelihood of exposure. People who are exposed may never become infected at all, and even those who do develop an infection may never go on to develop symptoms.
Dr. Tony Moody, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Duke Medical School who helps develop vaccines, said tracking TB before symptoms appear is key to limiting its spread, per the same account. Symptoms of active tuberculosis disease can include a persistent cough or fever, night sweats, shortness of breath, and unintentional weight loss. Left untreated, tuberculosis can be deadly, though the disease is treatable when caught and managed properly.
A Familiar Protocol for the District
This is not the first time Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has navigated a TB exposure scare. Hoodline reported that the district and health officials confirmed an active case at North Mecklenburg High School last fall, taking precautionary measures and issuing exposure notifications to affected families. A similar scare unfolded at Pleasant Knoll Middle School in nearby Fort Mill this past May, showing the region has repeatedly had to manage school-based TB investigations over the past year.
Federal guidance helps explain why only certain families at Alexander Graham received letters rather than the entire school community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instructs health departments to prioritize contact tracing for people who spent prolonged time in enclosed spaces with an active case before expanding testing to broader groups. The CDC also notes that people who develop only a latent TB infection are not contagious, show no symptoms, and cannot spread the bacteria to others unless the infection progresses to active disease.
Rising Case Counts Across the Region
The exposure notice arrives amid a documented increase in local tuberculosis activity. State surveillance data published by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in August recorded 58 active TB cases in Mecklenburg County in 2025, up from 37 the year before, a rate of 4.8 cases per 100,000 residents. That local increase mirrors a broader statewide climb reported by The Independent, which found North Carolina's active TB cases rose to 250 in 2024 from 215 in 2023 and 164 in 2022, reaching multi-decade highs. Nationally, the trend has moved differently: provisional CDC data released in March showed total U.S. tuberculosis cases and incidence rates dipped slightly in 2025 after three straight years of increases from 2021 through 2024.
No Cost to Families for Testing
North Carolina law requires health departments to move quickly once a case is suspected or confirmed. State administrative rules mandate that laboratories and medical personnel report positive tuberculosis findings to public health authorities within 24 hours, which is why contact tracing tends to begin so soon after a case is identified. Under North Carolina General Statute § 130A-144(e), local health departments must provide diagnostic testing and treatment for tuberculosis at no cost to patients, meaning families who are asked to get their children tested should not face an out-of-pocket bill.
Alexander Graham Middle School serves roughly 1,187 students across grades 6 through 8. As of this report, the health department and school district had been contacted for more details but had not provided additional comment beyond the letters sent to affected families.
