An investigation conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment revealed that seventeen people were infected with latent tuberculosis (TB) after they came into contact with a 19-yea-old Nepalese woman who had died in June from the disease.

The majority of those infected were students at Colorado State University – Pueblo, where the teenager attended the courses.

Kalpana Dangol died in June, after she was taken to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. After her death, 149 people at Colorado State University-Pueblo were tested in El Paso and Pueblo counties.

Ten of the 17 are being treated for the disease, according to Juli Bettridge, an investigator for the state health department. The other seven have moved or refused to undergo the treatment.

"We can't force anyone to go on treatment for latent TB infections because they're not infectious; they are not a threat to public health. It's really hard when someone doesn't feel sick to tell them that they need to take medicine — a drug called Isoniazid — for nine months," Bettridge said.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, most people with latent TB are not likely to develop an active infection. They are not contagious and have no symptoms. Their body usually can fight the bacteria and prevent them from growing according to Jennifer Ruth, CDC’s representative. The most exposed to this disease are people whose immune system is weakened, she said.

Health officials in Colorado said it was difficult to determine whether the students tested positive after Dangol’s death had been infected by her.

More than 1,500 people in Colorado were tested for TB in 2006. The results showed 9 people with active TB and 281 with latent TB, Bettridge said.