Expert warns ‘hidden reservoirs’ of TB may lie behind Cork outbreak

WITH pupils of a Cork primary school set to undergo repeat screening for TB this week, a consultant in respiratory medicine has warned “hidden reservoirs” of the disease may be behind the latest outbreak.

Dr Cathal Bredin, a consultant respiratory physician at Cork University Hospital (CUH) said he believed these “hidden reservoirs” of TB account for the type of sudden outbreak currently afflicting Scoil Iosaf Naomha, Crab Lane, Ballintemple, in the suburbs of Cork city, where six pupils have been diagnosed with full-blown TB and 31 with latent TB infection.

Three staff have also been diagnosed with latent TB infection, which is not contagious.