Testing EU workers for TB ‘could combat

VOLUNTARY screening for tuberculosis (TB) among EU workers in Ireland would help combat the disease that has forced a Cork school to defer re-opening after three pupils were infected.

President of the Irish Thoracic Society (ITS), Dr Terry O’Connor, said incoming workers from other EU member states should be encouraged to attend voluntary clinics, particularly if they hailed from countries with a high incidence of TB. He said other non-EU nationals had to undergo a battery of health checks to test for infectious diseases, including TB, and the same should apply to EU immigrants.

Dr O’Connor, a consultant respiratory physician at Mercy University Hospital, said the setting up of clinics should be accompanied by a campaign to drive home the advantages of early detection of TB. “We have enjoyed many cultural benefits as a result of people from other countries coming to work here but there is a downside too, and people may have shirked from that,” he said.

Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection with the Health Service Executive (HSE), admitted the need to screen not just asylum seekers, but other people who come here from inside the EU and who are “not as easy to identify”.

He said the HSE was working on extending its existing TB screening programme, which includes health workers, prisoners and asylum seekers, to include “new entrants” to Ireland, the homeless and those infected with HIV. However, extending screening to all high risk groups was dependent on existing resources, Dr Kelleher said.

Meanwhile, pupils attending Ballintemple National School at Crab Lane in Cork city have been told the school will re-open on September 6, a week behind schedule. This is to facilitate screening of more than 220 pupils and staff for the disease, the source of which has not yet been found.

Denis O’Sullivan, school principal, said they were working hard with the HSE in order to get everyone screened so they could return to school with clean bills of health.

“I have confidence that we, along with public health consultant Dr Margaret O’Sullivan and the HSE, will deal with the situation appropriately,” he said.

The second day of screening continues today with special arrangements being made for children who may need X-rays and paediatric referrals.

* The HSE has set up an information line to assist parents with queries in relation to the TB outbreak. The phone number is 1800 742800, open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.