Leaving Certificate students attending a Co Kildare secondary school are to be screened for tuberculosis later this week after a senior student at their school was confirmed as having contracted the disease.
The screening will be carried out at the Holy Family Secondary School in Newbridge on Friday when public health staff employed by the South Western Area Health Board (SWAHB) visit the school.
Parents of the students have been informed by letter that the screening is about to take place.
The mother of one Leaving Certificate student told The Irish Times that the letter from the school stated that pupils had been in contact with TB and that public health specialists would visit on Friday to screen and inject those who had been in contact with the student who had been diagnosed with TB.
It also gave details of the symptoms of TB to watch out for.
The health board confirmed in a statement last evening that a case of TB had been identified at a secondary school in its area.
"The individual concerned is undergoing appropriate treatment," it said.
Furthermore it pointed out that TB is not easily spread. "Only some people with TB in the lungs are infectious to other people, and close and prolonged contact with such a person (i.e. family, friends, childminder, co-worker), is needed to potentially pass on the infection," it said.
"The Eastern Regional Health Authority department of public health and the SWAHB are following up any close contacts of the individual in the normal way.
"SWAHB public health doctors are also liaising closely with the school, and contact has been made with parents as appropriate. The school is operating as normal," it added.
The school's principal could not be contacted for comment last night.
Tuberculosis used to be more common in Ireland. There were nearly 7,000 cases a year in the early 1950s but the incidence has declined steadily since then. In 2001 there were 381 cases notified in the Republic and doctors are obliged to notify each case of TB to their local department of public health.
"Incidence of TB has been relatively steady in recent years, with approximately 150 to 160 cases reported each year in the Eastern region," the health board statement said.
Symptoms of TB can include fever and night sweats, a cough lasting more than two weeks, weight loss or blood in one's sputum (phlegm) at any time. Someone with any of these symptoms should visit their family doctor for advice.