Health workers have today began screening more than 200 pupils from a Co Cork primary school where an outbreak of tuberculosis has been recorded.
Public health officers are meeting students and teachers from Ballintemple National School at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork today to assess if they have been affected by TB.
Three cases of TB have been identified among pupils of the school. The outbreak was identified on August 10th, and parents were notified by letter two days later. The infected children in Ballintemple have started anti-tuberculosis treatment and are under specialist paediatric care.
Following a risk assessment the HSE decided that all 220 pupils and staff at the school should screened as a precautionary measure.
About 400 cases of TB are recorded in the State each year.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said those attending the screening would be asked to complete a questionnaire, undergo a Mantoux skin test, which requires reading 48 to 72 hours later, and a chest X-ray.
“The TB vaccine will be considered once screening is complete,” she said. The source of the outbreak has not yet been identified, the spokeswoman added.
HSE head of health protection Dr Kevin Kelleher told RTÉ radio he did not know yet if the Co Cork outbreak was contagious. He said the national screening programme for TB needed to be expanded to cover people who were homeless and those with HIV.
Since 2008 newborns in HSE South have been routinely receiving the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination against TB after a 36-year gap in the service.
The vaccination is a routine part of neonatal care in most other parts of the country, but it was withdrawn in Cork in 1972 over a funding issue.
Calls were made for its reintroduction after a major outbreak of TB at a Cork creche in 2007 accounted for 21 of the 101 cases reported nationally that year.
Historically, the TB incidence rate in the Cork/Kerry region has been slightly higher than the national incidence rate.
Cork Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune said the Minister for Health should set up a review of TB services, including the process for administering the BCG vaccination for infants.
