Limerick GAA player tested for TB

THE Limerick senior hurling panel along with the team management and backroom staff were yesterday at the centre of a tuberculosis scare.

A member of the squad has been tested for TB after becoming ill recently. The results of the tests are expected in coming days.

In the meantime, all involved with the team camp have been advised to take skin tests and have chest x-rays.

Earlier this month the player at the centre of the scare travelled with the squad for a weekend training camp at The Breaffy International Sports Hotel in Castlebar, but did not take part in any rigorous work-outs as he felt unwell.

Team manager, Richie Bennis said: “He was under the weather that weekend, but still came with us because he was afraid of losing his place in the squad. He is fiercely determined. He is now recovering at home, and hopes to be back training with us in about three weeks.”

Up to 40 players, management and backroom staff will undergo tests as a precautionary measure.

Limerick GAA chairman Denis Holmes said: “We are looking into all aspects of the player’s welfare. At the moment our main concern is for the player in question.”

TB in the lungs is the most common form of the disease and can be spread by coughing with air transmission of the TB bacteria. Treatment of TB used to necessitate long confinements in sanatoriums, and was a major killer.

With the advance in antibiotics, the illness can now be treated without hospitalisation in a matter of weeks.

A spokesman for the HSE Mid West said the risk of cross infection is higher among persons who have prolonged close contact with an infectious person such as others living in the same house.

Last year there were about 450 reported cases of TB nationwide of which about 50 were in the Mid-West. When new TB cases are diagnosed contact tracing is carried out with people in the same household and people having sports contact.

In the workplace a TB situation will lead to fellow workers being screened by public health doctors.