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Britain fights TB outbreak
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BRITISH public health officials said yesterday they were in a race against time to control a major outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in a community in central England.
Doctors have confirmed 24 cases of a virulent strain of TB centring around a school in the city of Leicester but believe the outbreak may have taken hold in the wider community.
"This is a major outbreak. We are dealing with a particularly virulent strain...which needs minimal exposure to infect,'' said Philip Monk, consultant in communicable diseases at Leicestershire Health Authority.
Leicester public health specialist Dr Gerry Bryant said the outbreak was substantial and unusual. National experts had been called in to help stop further infections.
More than 700 students and teachers at Crown Hills Community College in Leicester have been screened for the disease. As well as the 24 confirmed cases, another 60 students were found to be possibly infectious.
Health authorities said mass screening of the thousands of children in the area was now the most likely course of action.
Tuberculosis, which usually affects the lungs and is spread by coughing, sneezing or spitting. The disease can be fatal in small children but is usually treatable with antibiotics in adults.
TB was once a major killer in Britain but declined steadily in the 20th century as living standards improved.
The government recently announced it would resume the routine immunization of schoolchildren against TB, which was halted in 1999 because manufacturing problems led to a shortage of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine.
(SD-Agencies)
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