Teachers and pupils to be screened for TB at Cork school

Screening of staff and students at Coláiste Éamann Rís, Deerpark Cork city has  been started as a 'precautionary measure'

TB screening is underway at Coláiste Éamann Rís, Deerpark in Cork after a pupil was diagnosed with the highly infectious condition.

TB screening is under way at a secondary school in Cork after a pupil was diagnosed with the highly infectious condition.

The screening of staff and students at Coláiste Éamann Rís, Deerpark, Cork City, was started as a “precautionary measure" for the airborne disease which is generally spread through coughing and sneezing.

Sixth year students are understood to have all been screened so far.

Principal Aaron Wolfe told the Irish Examiner: “Staff and pupils are being screened for TB, but this is more a precautionary measure than anything else.

“Everything necessary is being done and the health authorities have been informed and are being fully supportive to us at this time.

“We are guided by them as to how to deal with this situation but other than that, there is nothing more I am able to say at this point.” 

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A HSE spokesperson said in a statement: “The Department of Public Health HSE South West confirms that it has been notified of a case of TB linked to a school in the south-west region."

It said that screening of close contacts is under way, in line with national and international guidance.

“This screening will allow for anyone who may have been infected to be identified in a timely manner and offered preventive treatment.

“This will reduce their risk of developing active disease.

”We are liaising very closely with the principal. All students and staff could return to school for the start of term as planned.”

The Department of Health and the Department of Education have been asked for comment.

TB in schools and symptoms

TB in Irish schools is rare.

One of the last times it was found in schoolchildren in the Republic of Ireland was in 2018. Then two students at the same secondary school, Glanmire Community College in Cork, were diagnosed with TB.

TB incidence plateaued in the republic last year and is, according to HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), comparable with 2015 levels. However, the number of cases reported in 2025 exceeded the projected number of cases required to achieve the “End TB” target, and paediatric TB rates “remain elevated”.

Last year, there were 285 TB notifications to the HSE, down from 288 in 2024, but up from 203 in 2021.

According to the HPSC, tuberculosis is a preventable curable disease, which is caused by a bacterium (germ) called Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

It usually affects the lungs but it can also affect other parts of the body, including the glands, the bones and rarely the brain.

Symptoms of TB can include fever and night sweats, a cough lasting more than three weeks, weight loss, and blood in their phlegm.

Anybody with any of these symptoms should visit their GP.

TB is usually spread in the air from another person who has TB of the lungs. It is spread by that person coughing, sneezing or spitting.

Children have a greater chance of becoming ill with TB, if exposed to it, as are elderly people, people with diabetes, and people in overcrowded and poor housing.