WASHINGTON (WUSA) — A George Washington University student has a suspected case of tuberculosis.  The Department of Health is working with the university to screen others who came in close contact with the student.

The university told 9NEWS NOW the student is not on campus now and is receiving medication for tuberculosis.

The disease is rare in this area, but TB affects 9 million people worldwide. TB kills nearly 2 million people each year.

“At a university, we have a student body that travels abroad quite often and does community service and does a lot of things that makes them vulnerable to health issues,” said Meredith Evans Raiford.

The university notified students via e-mail that one of their fellow classmates may have tuberculosis.

Student Tommy Schral said, “I heard about it. One of my friends said she was worried she had a potential case of TB.”

“It’s a bacterial disease that affects a third of the planet,” said Daniel Abdun-Nabi, president of a bio-pharmaceutical company working on a new tuberculosis vaccine.

“It is not always fatal,” he said.

He says the disease can be transmitted through coughing in a very close environment, and it has serious symptoms: “coughing, sometimes with blood, serious chest pains. those are the typical symptoms.”

He says the fact a student at George Washington University may have tuberculosis is odd.

“It’s pretty rare in the United States,” Abdun-Nabi said.

The Department of Health says very few people at the university are at risk and those people have been urged to get take a TB skin test. Their skin will be pricked, and if there’s a reaction, then they may have TB.