TB nurse prompts patient tests

TB was diagnosed in a nurse

Over 1,000 hospital patients are to be tested for tuberculosis after a nurse was diagnosed with the condition.

Patients cared for by the nurse on the Hazelton Ward at Cheltenham General Hospital, Gloucestershire will be offered tests.

The trust is obviously concerned about the possibility of the infection being passed on to patients

East Gloucestershire NHS Trust spokeswoman

About 1,300 patients who have been in contact with the member of staff over the last year are to be contacted.

A spokeswoman for East Gloucestershire NHS Trust said the chances of her having passed on the infection were small, but that it was thought appropriate to take precautionary measures to protect patients.

She said: "Although there needs to be very close contact in order for TB to be caught, the trust is obviously concerned about the possibility of the infection being passed on to patients and other staff members and is beginning a substantial look-back programme today."

Off work

The nurse worked at Cheltenham General Hospital

The spokeswoman added that she would not be returning to work until she was clear of TB.

The nurse has been on sick leave since she was diagnosed as having TB on Friday April 6. She is known to have gone on holiday to Sri Lanka last year.

Experts had already tested 138 staff from the hospital, but the results of the screening are not yet known.

Hospital officials estimate that testing every patient who came into contact with the nurse will carry on into the autumn, to cover a lengthy incubation period for TB which can last up to a year.

TB disease is airborne and can be spread by coughing, sneezing or spitting.

Doctors at the hospital said there was a 1% risk of transmission, with only those who were in constant close contact with the nurse likely to pick up the bug.

The TB infection was not connected to a spate of incidents in Leicester, they stressed.

TB strain

Hospital consultant microbiologist Dr Adel Abbas said: "We first want to find the strain of TB to see whether it is local or imported.

"The nurse could have contracted it from a patient as our hospital is full of patients with chest diseases.

"She had been in contact with patients with TB as she was in a general medical ward, but she had also had a foreign holiday in the last year.

"She had been vaccinated within the last 10 years and the disease was not very advanced.

"We felt the need to examine her as she had some of the symptoms such as coughing.

"All 1,300 patients who were in her ward over the last year are going to be X-rayed."

The trust runs Cheltenham General Hospital and seven cottage hospitals in the county.