Ireland: 2012 TB outbreaks - outbreak in Cloverhill Prison

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.independent.ie/national-n...l-3113099.html

Pupils tested after TB outbreak at school
By Anne-Marie Walsh
Monday May 21 2012

A number of young pupils will receive hospital treatment today following a TB outbreak at a primary school in the midlands.

It is understood that up to five students in third class at St Paul's National School in Portlaoise are due to attend the Midlands Regional Hospital for X-rays and tests.

Just two years ago, more than 220 children and staff at another primary school in Cork were screened for TB following an outbreak of the disease...

[Shiloh]

Re: Ireland: TB outbreak at schools in Portlaoise

Source: http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/l...ools-1-3873582

TB outbreak in two Portlaoise schools
Sean Fleming TD
Published on Wednesday 23 May 2012 14:17

Tuberculosis has hit two Portlaoise primary schools, with teachers and children currently undergoing screening and treatment by the HSE.

Last February 17 an active case of TB was reported in a pupil of the Sacred Heart Convent, and on March 8, St Paul?s BNS were told a pupil there also had the contagious airborne disease, which if untreated, can be fatal...

[Shiloh]

Re: Ireland: 2012 TB outbreaks - outbreak in Cloverhill Prison

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...320827989.html

The Irish Times - Thursday, July 26, 2012
Solicitors warned about TB in prisons
PAMELA DUNCAN

THE LAW Society of Ireland has issued an advisory to criminal law practitioners warning them of an infectious tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in Cloverhill Prison.

As part of a regular email bulletin sent to between 8,000 and 9,000 members earlier this week the Law Society included an item advising criminal law practitioners of a ?confirmed outbreak of infectious TB in certain prisons over the past number of months?.

Asked what prisons were affected, director general of the society, Ken Murphy said correspondence between the society, the HSE and the Irish Prisons Service in March this year referred to incidents in Cloverhill in Dublin and the Midlands Prison in Laois...

[Jonesie]

Re: Ireland: 2012 TB outbreaks - outbreak in Cloverhill Prison

There might be an alternative treatment for Tuberculosis in Cloverhill Prison:
Mullein...

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2011/239237/

What's in a Name? Can Mullein Weed Beat TB Where Modern Drugs Are Failing?
Eibhl?n McCarthy and Jim M. O'Mahony
Cork Institute of Technology, Rossa Avenue, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland

Received 20 April 2010; Accepted 31 August 2010
.....
Ireland is a country with a well-documented history of tubercular disease and leprosy [24]. To date, however, no research has been carried out into Irish traditional remedies for mycobacterial diseases such as TB.

Ireland has a relatively low number of native vascular plant species, at 815 [25]. During a review of those plants most used in traditional Irish medicine, one repeatedly showed links to TB and other diseases caused by mycobacteria. This plant is Verbascum thapsus, or common mullein.

4. Irish Mullein Weed?Notes from History
Mullein has grown wild throughout Ireland for centuries?on walls, wasteland, quarries, and roadsides. It can grow to heights of up to two metres, with a round woolly stem, broad basal leaves, and yellow flowers which bloom from June to September (Figure 1()) [4, 26]. This physical description explains many of the synonyms used for this plant. These include Candlewick Plant, Torches, Our Lady's Flannel, Shepherd's Staff, and Beggar's Stalk [27]. Census catalogues of the Irish flora, vice-county maps, and hectad maps all show the widespread distribution of mullein in Ireland [5, 28] (Figure 1()). Upon reviewing Irish traditional medicine, mullein soon becomes apparent as a leading remedy in the treatment of tuberculosis. Even up until the relatively recent introduction of antimycobacterial drugs, mullein was cultivated on a large scale in this country and even sold in the capital?s best chemist shops [29]. A simple ?pharmaceutical trial? in the late nineteenth century showed that the herb was beneficial in cases of tuberculosis. Dr. Quinlan of St. Vincent?s hospital (Dublin, Ireland) noted mullein as ?a trusted popular remedy in Ireland? and reported positive findings in 6 out of 7 cases where the herb was used to treat tubercular patients [30].
.............