TB in Palmerston North

Thought I'd already posted something about this before, but can't find it now. ?Perhaps a 'casualty' or just the usual i.e. my brain's going :o. ?Anyway, I've dug up a small compilation so it all roughly ties up. ?Newest article is first.

Palmerston North high school's TB positives reach 206
8.00am Tuesday September 19, 2006

Another 56 boys at Palmerston North Boys High School have tested positive for exposure to tuberculosis. All 1800 students, teachers and family members have been tested in the past few weeks, after a 13-year-old boy was admitted to hospital with TB last month.

MidCentral health spokeswoman Claire McMahon said the last 450 students were tested on Friday. Of these, 56 returned positive results, bringing the total of exposed students to 206.


Twenty school TB cases suspected
Saturday September 16, 2006

Twenty people are suspected of having active tuberculosis in Palmerston North after a 13-year-old student was sent to hospital with the disease last month.

Mid Central Health spokesman Scott Crowley said yesterday that testing at Palmerston North Boys' High had brought up 20 cases of students and close contacts requiring further investigation.


TB rampant at Palmerston North Boys High
8.00am Wednesday September 6, 2006

Tests have revealed 91 students and staff at Palmerston North Boys High have been exposed to tuberculosis. Mid Central Health spokesman Dennis Geddis said all 1800 students at the school were being tested after a Year 9 student was admitted to hospital with TB on August 16.

The results of a further 570 staff and student tests indicated that 91 of the group had been exposed to the bacteria and would require follow-up x-rays.

Last week, 53 of the student's close contacts were tested; 46 returned positive Mantoux skin tests. However, none have been diagnosed with active TB disease. Those who returned a positive test will be x-rayed and assessed by hospital specialists.

- NZ Herald

MB you're scaring me! What with the NZ supermarket strike, depressed Kiwis and now TB, I'm tempted to stay in the UK (not!).

I'm not trying to scare anyone, Kokopeli. Unfortunately the papers seem to dwell on all the bad stuff and leave me with very little happy/amusing stuff to post on here, which I do to supplement our posts and provide potential discussion points for members.

I'd rather people knew about what's going on in NZ, for good or bad, so they are aware of how things are. It's a favourite saying that you can't always believe what you read in the papers and this is true but I do think there must be an element of truth in there somewhere or the public would soon put paid to any major falsehoods as they are the ones 'on the ground'.

It's not that NZ is any worse than other countries for bad news. It's just the nature of the 'beast' that makes journalism what it is. I'm sure there's plenty of good news in NZ, but we don't get to hear about it.

Note to members: if you have any goods news stories from NZ, post them here. [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif] ;)

I meant that in good humour MB, so please don't think I thought you were sensationalising. ?The fact that there seemed to be a run of one-thing-after-another there made me smile!

And please keep it up - your news item posts are one of the reasons I keep coming back... ? :DI

I did indeed realise you were being humorous, Kokopeli. Unfortunately, although we can write, we can't inject any 'tone of voice' into our messages to suggest how we're feeling at the time of writing and that is where smileys can help out. [smiley=023.gif]

Just thought I would throw up a few words anyway, in case anyone else was under the impression that I was scaremongering. [smiley=Tut_tut.gif] I don't write the news, I only repeat it. ;)

Now, how can I get the media to write up some feel-good stories? [smiley=undecided.gif]

How about this one? ?

A chap came round to give us a quote for a container to Auckland last week. ?We got chatting and it turned out he was in the year above me at primary school near Lincoln. ?I won't tell you how long ago it was, but everyone was wearing Bay City Rollers scarves! ? ?:-[

It was strange because we both moved to different parts of the country during our teens and now he lives just 'round the corner from my wife's parents. Spooky. :o

It?s a funny feeling when our past catches up with us. I had a similar experience when I was in technical college and found myself being stared at by a young man. It was getting to the point where he was beginning to irritate me, but then he came up to me and addressed me by name, which freaked me out.

Turns out he was the ?boy next door? that I hadn?t seen since we were neighbours and in primary school together in a totally different area. We both lived in a very isolated valley and played together as kids. Says something that he still recognised me, although I have to admit to having to scrutinise him well before I could see the little boy in him. I felt myself being pulled back all those years.

He drove me home and asked me out, but it wasn?t the same as making mud pies on the river bank and we went our separate ways again.

Not a happy story, but not a sad one either.

Going back to TB (not that your tales of meeting someone from the past is not fascinating), I am wondering whether anyone knows if kids are given TB vaccinations here?

In the UK, my eldest was given his at 13 years at school. Now my daughter is 13 it seems that TB vaccinations are not routinely given at school here. The general feeling (rightfully or wrongly) is that the population is so spread out that diseases are not as infectious to as many people as in other countries.

The cost may also be something that has to be thought of. I have had a reminder for a tetnus booster and breast cancer examination, but the letters indicate it may be 'cost-effective' for me to have these done on my next visit to the doctors. Presumably, if I have no reason to go there, the booster and examinations will not take place.

Think I will ring the GP surgery and ask if there is a 'consultation' fee (and any other charges) for kids to have their TB, or any other vaccination.
:-?

Talking of vaccinations, does anyone know whether they use MMR or single vaccines in NZ? We paid for singles for all 3 of our kids, more because we felt we should have the right to choose rather than because of the media scare. Our youngest will need a booster next year - just wondered what the options would be in NZ.

TB testing net widened
1.00pm Tuesday September 26, 2006
By Colin Marshall

Students from schools throughout the lower North Island are to be tested for tuberculosis after coming into contact with a Palmerston North Boys' High student who had to be hospitalised with the disease. The 13-year-old boy was hospitalised last month and found to have an infectious form of TB, meaning 1800 Boys' High students, staff and relatives had to be tested.

Tests found 206 people had been exposed to the disease and 18 of them had an active form.

Mid Central District Health Board spokeswoman Claire McMahon said today the testing net was being thrown wider to include 90 people who had been at an interschool sports event in June, where the boy competed.

Ms McMahon could not say which schools were at the event or where it was held, saying only: "It was with schools from the lower half of the North Island."

The 90 people would have the first level skin test to see if they had been exposed to TB, before seeing if further assessment or treatment was required.

Ms McMahon said Public Health was tracing all the people who had come in contact with the boy, and the latest testing came as the net spread in "concentric circles". It was possible more people might have to be tested.

Meanwhile, the sick boy is recovering at home and having treatment. The other 18 suspected of having active TB were all starting treatment today with antibiotics.

Ms McMahon said it was not known where the 13-year-old boy had contracted the disease but the tracing of his contacts and "DNA fingerprinting" of the TB strain might show a link to other cases in New Zealand. She said in New Zealand there were 418 cases of active TB in 2004 and 348 in 2005.

- NZPA