TB cases rise to 37 as screening fails to find infection source

THE number of children diagnosed with tuberculosis at a Cork primary school has risen to 37, but the source of infection has still not been found even though screening of pupils and staff is complete.

More than 220 students and staff at Scoil Iósaf Naofa, Crab Lane, Ballintemple, have been screened over the past two weeks and additional screening is under way of staff who left the school last year, including substitute teachers and transition year students.

In a letter to parents seen by the Irish Examiner, HSE public health consultant Dr Margaret O’Sullivan said one further active case of TB had been detected in the past week, bringing the total number of children with full-blown TB to six, and a further 11 children had been identified with latent TB, bringing that number to 31.