The number of babies in Ireland who will not have been immunised against tuberculosis by the end of the year is set to reach 50,000 — because of a European-wide shortage of the vaccine.

Ireland’s supply of the BCG vaccine that protects newborn babies against tuberculosis (TB) has run out, with a new batch not expected until July at the earliest.

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ANOTHER child has been diagnosed with full-blown TB at a Cork primary school and six more cases of latent infection have been detected, bringing to 47 the number of pupils and staff infected with the disease.

SENIOR health managers declined to discuss at a public forum one of the country’s worst outbreaks of TB in recent years.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has been forced to suspend BCG clinics for children in north Cork because staff who normally administer the vaccine have been drafted in for the roll-out of the cervical cancer vaccine.

A TB outbreak at a Cork primary school where 40 people have been infected has exhibited “an extraordinarily high rate of attack” and confounded public health officials who have been unable to identify the source.

Parents of children at a Cork primary school — where the numbers infected with tuberculosis (TB) have risen to 25 — want every child in the school to receive the TB vaccination as a matter of priority.

FOR much of the last century in Ireland, TB was the AIDS of its day, a scourge that ravaged the country.

A NATIONAL TB screening programme covering all at-risk groups should be introduced immediately, a respiratory expert has urged.

Fine Gael has called for an urgent review of TB services in Ireland after three known cases of the disease were confirmed in a Cork primary school.

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AROUND 10,000 babies in Cork are on a waiting list to be vaccinated against the potentially life-threatening disease Tuberculosis, it emerged yesterday.

Around 10,000 babies in Cork are on a waiting list to be vaccinated against the potentially life-threatening disease Tuberculosis, it emerged today.

A U-TURN is on the cards as the Health Service Executive plans to open, on a 24-hour basis in July, a €5 million A&E at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork.

THOUSANDS of newborn babies will have to wait until March at the earliest before they can avail of a potentially vital vaccine which prevents TB.

ROUTINE vaccination of newborns to protect against TB has been suspended at two of the country’s largest maternity hospitals on foot of a Europe-wide shortage of the BCG vaccine.

HEALTH authorities across Europe are facing a potential shortage of the vaccine that protects against TB because of difficulties getting the product independently assessed.

A PROMISE has been broken to vaccinate all newborn babies in Cork against TB from October, because of the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) ban on staff recruitment.

A TUBERCULOSIS vaccine routinely given to newborns, with the exception of babies born in Cork, would have cost the Government little more than €16,500 when the Southern Health Board (SHB) sought funding in 2001.

The outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in two creches in Cork is undoubtedly like the reoccurrence of an old nightmare for many older people.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is to set up additional vaccination clinics on Monday for children attending two Cork creches where the number of TB cases has risen to 16.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has taken the unusual step of requesting chest X-rays for two groups of toddlers who tested negative for TB at two Cork creches.

INADEQUATE childrens’ healthcare services were highlighted again in the report (Irish Examiner, March 23) that, unlike children elsewhere in the State, those in Cork are not automatically given the BCG vaccine against TB.

DOCTORS tackling a TB outbreak in Cork will begin screening at a city creche again this morning where an adult case of the disease was confirmed last week.

UP to 12 children at a Cork city childcare centre face a lengthy course of antibiotic treatment to prevent the development of full blown tuberculosis (TB) after a former staff member was diagnosed with the disease.

SCREENING for TB at a childcare facility in Cork where six people tested positive earlier this week has been completed with no additional positive results.

AS World TB Day was marked around the globe yesterday, parents were anxiously waiting for children attending two crèches in Cork to be screened after it emerged a woman who contracted the disease worked in both centres.

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NEWBORN babies in Cork are not being automatically vaccinated against TB — even though BCG vaccination jabs are on the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) recommended childhood vaccine schedule.

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GENERAL Practitioners are meeting tonight to consider balloting for industrial action in support of their striking public health colleagues.

PARENTS’ confidence in the State’s vaccination policy hit a new low yesterday after it emerged that around 30,000 children received an ineffective jab to protect against TB.

Children from three British schools were being screened for tuberculosis today after pupils and staff were diagnosed with the disease.