Tuberculosis case in Corby school as health bosses begin screening 'close contacts'

A child at Brooke Weston Academy in Corby has received a diagnosis of tuberculosis.

The illness is rarely seen in children in the UK and causes a persistent cough, a high temperature, weight loss, night sweats and swellings.

It can be – in very rare cases – fatal if not treated.

Public health bosses are working with the school to ensure the disease is contained. The council, local integrated care board and the East Midlands UK Health Security Agency are also involved in the response.

There are 1,186 pupils at the Coomb Road school, which caters for youngsters from year seven to year 13.

The UK Health Security Agency East Midlands said they were aware of the case and said the patient was no longer infectious after being treated by specialist TB services.

They said a full risk assessment had been carried out and they were now working to inform parents and staff, and provide TB screening for identified close contacts of the case.

Although the case has been known about for a few days, the agency said the timing of this screening was determined ‘based on the clinical course of the infection and in line with public health guidance’.

Dr Samia Latif, Consultant in Health Protection for UKHSA East Midlands, said: “Exposure to TB does not mean an individual will go on to develop active TB but it is important to identify people exposed to TB so they can receive treatment to stop them developing the active disease. That is why screening is so important.

“Although TB is an infectious disease, it usually requires a lot of time in close contact with an infected individual. TB is fully treatable and curable with a course of antibiotics and people are no longer infectious after two weeks of treatment.

“If anyone is worried they might have TB, they should contact their GP in the first instance.”

In the three years to the end of 2022, just 17 people across North Northamptonshire were formally diagnosed with TB.

But research also showed that Kettering General Hospital recorded a 239 per cent increase in cases between 2019 and 2023 – the highest in the country.

Back in 2009, an outbreak at Kingswood Secondary Academy saw 200 children screened following three active cases that were detected in pupils. Another 57 latent cases were discovered but no further active infections were notified and every child recovered.

Case numbers were highest in the late Victorian era when TB killed millions across the UK. Rushden had its own sanitorium to deal with the hundreds of cases per year in the area. But modern detection and treatment developments have greatly improved case rates down to double figures in our county.

What is tuberculosis?

The disease, known as TB, is caused by bacteria. It’s the second biggest worldwide killer after Covid-19.

It is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs and can be spread through coughs and sneezes.

The most common type of TB is latent tuberculosis, when the bacteria in the body is controlled by the immune system which stops it from growing. This type can’t be spread.

But with active tuberculosis, the body’s immune system can’t control the TB bacteria and infection develops.

About a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected but only around five to ten per cent of people will eventually get symptoms and develop TB disease.

It is usually treated with a six-month course of antibiotics which are very effective, but in the three years up to the end of 2022, around four per cent of those with TB in the UK died. Most had other factors that affected the outcome of their illness so there is normally no need to panic.

How can we protect against TB?

Until 2005, the BCG vaccine, which protects against tuberculosis in the lungs, was given to everyone in the UK at the age of 13 or 14.

But the £10m annual programme was not thought to be making a serious dint in numbers so was scrapped in favour of vaccinating only infants who were deemed to be particularly at risk – most of those were born in high-risk countries.

Rates of infection dropped through the 1980s but the improvement slowed and in 2021 the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England launched the TB action plan as part of the World Health Organisation’s End TB strategy which aims to reduce cases by 90 per cent by 2035.

In 2023, there were 5,000 known infections in the UK, an annual rise of about ten per cent.