THE Ministry of Health and the Department of Public Health are investigating a case of tuberculosis (TB) in a student at R M Bailey Senior High in New Providence.
According to a statement from health officials, a public health team will be on campus today and all teachers and staff at R M Bailey will be screened.
“All students will be offered screening for exposure to tuberculosis over the coming week,” the statement said.
“Parents are asked to send school health forms along with completed and signed consent forms for public health staff to commence Mantoux testing. Your child will not receive a Mantoux test without this completed and signed consent form.”
The Mantoux is a skin test that would tell if a person has had exposure to TB.
The test will be read 48 to 72 hours after it is done and results will be given to parents, the statement said.
“The skin test will be negative if there has been no exposure. If it is positive we will advise you further. We will update you on the progress we are making,” health officials said.
On Wednesday, Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands spoke about concerns about the growing number of new cases of TB on Eleuthera.
“I have recently returned from Eleuthera where we have started focused screening of the residents,” he said in the House of Assembly.
“We have started in Eleuthera because from 2012, the surveillance unit has documented a gradual increase in cases on the island.”
Dr Sands later told The Nassau Guardian there are currently 100 confirmed cases of TB on Eleuthera.
He also there are also 15 cases of TB on Exuma but added it was unclear if those 115 cases on the two islands are latent or active.
Dr Sands said health officials will conduct screening and chest x-rays throughout Eleuthera then move to Exuma over the next few weeks.
TB is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. It is an infectious disease that generally affects the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections do not have symptoms.
If left untreated when it becomes active, the disease kills about half of those infected, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Anyone with questions on TB is asked to call the Ministry of Health’s Surveillance Unit at 376-1103, 376-3970 or 502-4705.
Comments
TheMadHatter 6 years, 5 months ago
First of all - trust me - people will never receive the results. Ever.
Second - why waste all this testing effort? Just ask if any student or staff has relatives/friends in the prison and has recently visited there. Most likely place it was obtained from. In that case they should also be tested for malaria, typhoid, and chikungunya (chicken ganja) which would not be surprising.
The good news is that once their relative graduates from the Fox Hill Criminal Instruction Institute they will be able to make more money from crime and cover the doctor fees and the cost of the shots :-)
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 5 months ago
Actually I know of a case of a young child who got it, neither parent nor their friends have any reason to visit fox hill. We sometimes treat things a certain way because we believe it won't affect us.
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