ALMOST 100 people are to be screened for tuberculosis after it was revealed a healthcare worker at Mayday Hospital has been diagnosed with the disease.

The member of staff - whose details are not being made public - worked at Mayday Hospital last year and has since been diagnosed with the infection. They no longer work for the NHS.

Hospital bosses have contacted 63 patients for screening who came into close contact with the health worker - and whose immune systems may have been suppressed at the time - as a "safety precaution".

Thirty-four members of staff who came into regular contact with the infected health worker are also being screened.

Gavin Marsh, medical director at Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "The risk of contracting TB is linked to how long you have been exposed to someone with the disease, your medical condition at the time and whether your immune system is suppressed.

"The likelihood of anyone contracting TB from this healthcare worker is very small but the hospital is taking seriously its responsibility to put patients' minds at ease.

"In situations like this hospitals follow the national guidelines set by the British Thoracic Society and we have sought guidance from the Health Protection Agency. I would like to reassure everyone who uses Mayday's services that they have not been exposed to unnecessary risk."

TB FACTS

  • TB is an infectious disease (a bacterial infection) usually affecting the lungs, although it can affect any part of the body. TB used to be very common, but now around 7,000 people get it each year in the UK.
  • Symptoms, which develop slowly in the body and may take several months to appear, include: fever and night sweats, cough, weight loss, blood in phlegm or spit at any time.
  • TB is spread through the air when people who have the disease cough or sneeze. However, you need to be close to an infectious person for many days to catch the disease. Only those with TB in the lungs can be infectious.
  • TB is treatable and curable with a course of antibiotics. Those being treated for TB need to be treated for at least six months.
  • When a case of infectious TB is diagnosed, close contacts are screened. This most often involves just those who live in the same house. Sometimes other people who have very prolonged and close contact are screened as well. People who have only social contact with a case of infectious TB are not normally screened as they are not typically at risk.