TB

Students and teachers at a Nicosia gymnasium tested positive for the bacteria that causes tuberculosis after one of their classmates was diagnosed with TB last week.

Health Ministry infectious disease specialist Dr Chrystalla Hadjianastasiou said each case would be investigated further to determine to what extent they required further treatment.

Hadjianastasiou said just because the teachers and students had tested positive for the presence of mycobacteria did not mean they had become infected through contact with the 14-year-old boy, or that they would develop the infectious lung disease.

“Some of the boy’s classmates tested positive but so did other students who were in another class and had had no contact with him whatsoever,” she said.

Hadjianastasiou said it was possible for people to be carriers of mycobacteria and not develop TB for many years.

“We are looking at administering prevention treatment so that they do not develop TB in future,” she said.

The doctor said last week’s incident had given the health services access to testing every one of the 126 pupils and teachers at the Phaneromeni school which was how they had discovered the random cases they had.

“This has allowed us to be able to investigate their environment to determine the source of the bacteria,” she said.

Hadjianastasiou said there was no cause for concern and that the health services were currently investigating to what extent the pupils and teachers who tested positive for the bacterium needed a course of prevention medication.

The specialist said the findings had been random and that there was another source of infection that warranted further epidemiological investigation.

She said TB was not a serious problem in Cyprus and that the island had one of the lowest incidence rates in Europe and around the world.

She would not however confirm how many children and teachers had tested positive for mycobacteria.

The 14-year-old who was diagnosed with TB last Wednesday is being treated at a sanatorium in the mountain village of Kyperounda and is said to be responding to treatment. He will remain isolated until he is no longer contagious, which is expected to be at least two more weeks.

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