Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
TB warning for 500 hospital patients
Martin Wainwright
Thursday April 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A nurse has been diagnosed with TB.
A hospital has contacted more than 500 surgical patients after doctors diagnosed a part-time nurse's persistent cough as tuberculosis this week.
Eighty people who spent a fortnight or more on the ward at York district hospital where the woman has worked since September have been offered chest X-rays.
A further group who were recently X-rayed will have their results checked for traces of the disease.
Most of those contacted have been advised only to contact GPs if they are concerned or show possible symptoms of TB - a combination of persistent coughing, weight loss, chest pain, unusual sweating and feeling permanently tired.
"There is a risk but only a small one - we're telling people not to worry," said Mike Proctor, chief operations officer at York district hospital where the un-named nurse worked on ward 16.
The ward takes adult surgical cases, a high proportion of them elderly.
"TB is an eminently treatable disease and very difficult disease to catch," said Mr Proctor. "The nurse is being treated and she will make a full recovery."
The hospital said that an initial diagnosis was made last month but letters could not be sent until doctors confirmed TB this week.
Once almost eradicated, the disease has made a comeback in Britain and other European countries because of increasing international travel.
Cases in North Yorkshire remain very rare but the county's rate nearly doubled between 2001 and 2005 from 12 to 21.
Recent cases included two at one school in Easingwold near York within two years, but there have been no notified instances of direct transmission.
Mr Proctor said: "We are concerned because we know the people we have contacted will be concerned. Some of our older patients will have experienced life in the distant past when TB was a major killer. There was a big stigma attached to it.
"Patients will probably worry way in excess of the actual risks. The question we asked ourselves was: Could we have done something to prevent this from happening?' I believe the answer is no. All the actions we're doing are trying to allay as many fears as possible."
The hospital has given advice to all staff and offered X-rays to colleagues who worked with the nurse.
The incident has been reported to the Health Protection Agency, which last month released provisional data for 2006 showing a 2% increase nationally in TB to 8,171 cases from 8,008 in 2005.
Tuberculosis is an infection caused by bacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Transmission by coughing of infectious droplet usually needs prolonged and close contact.
The letter from Dr Alexander Anderson, a consultant microbiologist at the hospital, says: "Please reassure any friends and relatives who may have visited you while you were on the ward that they are not at risk and do not require any investigations whatsoever."
The evil reputation of TB dates from the early 20th century when there were more than 50,000 cases a year in Britain and isolated sanatoria were part of the landscape.
Preventative treatment in many areas including North Yorkshire is now targeted at high-risk groups, and the old BCG injection administered during teenage years is no longer given universally.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2066402,00.html
Martin Wainwright
Thursday April 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A nurse has been diagnosed with TB.
A hospital has contacted more than 500 surgical patients after doctors diagnosed a part-time nurse's persistent cough as tuberculosis this week.
Eighty people who spent a fortnight or more on the ward at York district hospital where the woman has worked since September have been offered chest X-rays.
A further group who were recently X-rayed will have their results checked for traces of the disease.
Most of those contacted have been advised only to contact GPs if they are concerned or show possible symptoms of TB - a combination of persistent coughing, weight loss, chest pain, unusual sweating and feeling permanently tired.
"There is a risk but only a small one - we're telling people not to worry," said Mike Proctor, chief operations officer at York district hospital where the un-named nurse worked on ward 16.
The ward takes adult surgical cases, a high proportion of them elderly.
"TB is an eminently treatable disease and very difficult disease to catch," said Mr Proctor. "The nurse is being treated and she will make a full recovery."
The hospital said that an initial diagnosis was made last month but letters could not be sent until doctors confirmed TB this week.
Once almost eradicated, the disease has made a comeback in Britain and other European countries because of increasing international travel.
Cases in North Yorkshire remain very rare but the county's rate nearly doubled between 2001 and 2005 from 12 to 21.
Recent cases included two at one school in Easingwold near York within two years, but there have been no notified instances of direct transmission.
Mr Proctor said: "We are concerned because we know the people we have contacted will be concerned. Some of our older patients will have experienced life in the distant past when TB was a major killer. There was a big stigma attached to it.
"Patients will probably worry way in excess of the actual risks. The question we asked ourselves was: Could we have done something to prevent this from happening?' I believe the answer is no. All the actions we're doing are trying to allay as many fears as possible."
The hospital has given advice to all staff and offered X-rays to colleagues who worked with the nurse.
The incident has been reported to the Health Protection Agency, which last month released provisional data for 2006 showing a 2% increase nationally in TB to 8,171 cases from 8,008 in 2005.
Tuberculosis is an infection caused by bacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Transmission by coughing of infectious droplet usually needs prolonged and close contact.
The letter from Dr Alexander Anderson, a consultant microbiologist at the hospital, says: "Please reassure any friends and relatives who may have visited you while you were on the ward that they are not at risk and do not require any investigations whatsoever."
The evil reputation of TB dates from the early 20th century when there were more than 50,000 cases a year in Britain and isolated sanatoria were part of the landscape.
Preventative treatment in many areas including North Yorkshire is now targeted at high-risk groups, and the old BCG injection administered during teenage years is no longer given universally.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2066402,00.html