TB screening at creche after adult case confirmed

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.

It will be the second phase of screening to take place at the Nurture Childcare facility in Douglas in the last two months after a case of the disease was first confirmed at a separate childcare facility in March.

Identification of the outbreak began following the diagnosis of a childcare worker with TB at the Panda Paws preschool and childcare facility in Little Island, Co Cork, on March 15. Following that diagnosis, 140 children and staff underwent screening.

Two cases of TB were confirmed in children at the preschool and four children are on a lengthy course of antibiotics to prevent development of full-blown TB.

A second staff member at the creche is also undergoing treatment.

But it subsequently emerged that the Panda Paws worker who tested positive had previously worked at Nurture Childcare in Douglas.

The first phase of screening of 166 adults and children at that facility resulted in seven children testing positive.

Up to 12 children have been placed on antibiotic treatment.

But an adult childcare worker at Nurture, who it is understood worked in the same toddler room as the first worker, tested positive for the contagious adult form of TB last week.

Public health specialists briefed parents at Nurture Childcare about the latest development on Thursday.

Doctors from St Finbarr’s Hospital’s chest clinic will begin contact screening there again this morning.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) declined to comment further yesterday.

Cork is the only county where the BCG vaccine against TB is not routinely offered to newborns.

But the HSE confirmed last week it will be routinely offered from October.

“In the interim, the HSE will be making provisions to set up additional vaccination clinics to address the current waiting list and parents will be contacted directly to attend a clinic appointment,” a spokesperson said Friday.

In all, over 300 children and adults have been screened at the two creches.

A HSE helpline is available to answer queries about the BCG vaccine on 1850 742 000 Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

Tuberculosis: what it is

TUBERCULOSIS is a contagious but curable bacterial infection which kills 5,000 people every day.

One-third of the world’s population have TB bacteria in their system but in the vast majority of cases it never becomes active.

In some cases it can be diagnosed as a common illness such as flu and the body’s own immune system fights off the infection without the need for treatment.

A body can be effectively immunised from the disease with childhood inoculation. However, when it does get the better of a person’s immune system, it can be deadly.

People develop symptoms, including coughing, weight loss, fatigue, night sweats and fever, although there is no definitive list of ailments associated with the disease.

It is treated with prescription drugs and chemotherapy in extreme cases.

The bacteria lives in droplets of phlegm and is highly contagious to people who breathe in the coughed-up germs.

People who feel they have been infected by TB can go for a screen test with results available within three days.

This will show a positive result to anybody who has a trace of the bacteria in their system and does not mean a person has active lung TB.

A chest x-ray is needed to confirm full TB.