Thirty Birmingham school pupils test positive for TB » Health » 24dash.com

Thirty pupils have tested positive for tuberculosis (TB) at an independent school, it has emerged.

All the pupils at Birchfield Independent School for Girls in Birmingham were tested for the condition after three were found to carry the infectious type of the disease.

A spokesman for Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust (PCT) said one girl contracted the disease last summer and was successfully treated.

But in February, two more girls developed the infectious form of the disease, prompting the school and health officials to test all the pupils earlier this month.

He said: "Thirty children returned positive skin tests for the disease."

The girls are currently awaiting X-ray screening to determine the extent of the infection and will be treated at Birmingham Chest Clinic and the Birmingham Children's Hospital.

The spokesman added there was no reason for the wider community to be alarmed and all those who have been in close contact with the girls will be screened for the bacterial infection.

None of the girls have attended school since the skin tests returned positive results.

No one from the school, a Muslim independent school with about 200 pupils, was available for comment.

The PTC confirmed that the schoolgirls have begun antibiotic treatment which would greatly reduce the risk of the bacterial infection spreading.

Paul Sommerfeld, chairman of the charity TB Alert, said the chances of the infection spreading to the wider population were slim.

"There is a big difference between being infected with TB and active TB which can be spread to other people.

"It is very important for public health that they (the 30 children who have shown an exposure to TB, but are unlikely to be infectious) do not develop active TB," he said.

"Even if they do develop active TB, it is by no means the case that everybody who has active TB is infectious.

"Patients are not infectious once they have been under treatment for a few days," he said.

Mr Sommerfeld said it was important people look out for symptoms of the disease which can include a persistent cough, heavy sweating at night, fever, chills and unexplained weight loss.

Tuberculosis is caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, bones, joints and even skin.

The Health Protection Agency estimates nearly two million people worldwide die from the disease every year.

About 8,000 new cases are reported in the United Kingdom every year, mostly in major cities, particularly London.