Open tuberculosis TBC in Rhineland-Palatinate authorities order mass test

Infectious disease: About 100 children from Kita are tested for tuberculosis
An adolescent in Waldsee, Rhineland-Palatinate, has been diagnosed with open tuberculosis (TB). The teenager had contact with many other people during an internship in a daycare center. Around 100 children and about 50 adults are therefore being tested for the dangerous infectious disease.

Rising tuberculosis numbers in Germany
Although the number of tuberculosis diseases has been falling worldwide for years, around 1.5 million people still die each year from this dangerous infectious disease. After years of declining numbers, the number of cases of tuberculosis in the last few years has risen in Germany, according to an evaluation by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, an open TBC has now been found in a 17-year-old. Since the adolescent had previously had contact with numerous people, now around 150 children and adults must be tested for the infectious disease.

In a 17-year-old adolescent in the Palatine Waldsee open tuberculosis was found. Now around 150 people who have had contact with the teen must be tested for the infectious disease. (Image: DOC RABE Media / fotolia.com)

Infected teens could have infected many other people
About 100 children from a day-care center in the Palatine Waldsee have to be examined for contact with a teenage girl with tuberculosis, the news agency dpa reports. A spokeswoman for the administration of the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis reported that about 50 supervisors, teachers and other young people who were in contact with the young man should also take a test.

According to the information, the investigations have already begun. So far, according to a report by the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) no infection has yet been detected.

Patient in hospital isolated
The affected adolescent had been diagnosed with dangerous overt tuberculosis in a day care center in the past week shortly after completing his two-week internship. According to a spokesman for the attending hospital in Ludwigshafen, the 17-year-old is doing well. The adolescent still has to stay in hospital for about two weeks in isolation.

Transmission by droplet infection
Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infectious disease that affects the lungs in particular. It used to be called "consumption." The triggers are so-called "mycobacteria", which predominantly affect the lungs and are mainly transmitted during coughing, sneezing and speaking.

At the beginning of the disease, nonspecific symptoms such as coughing, night sweats and a slightly elevated temperature are more likely to appear. Later, the symptoms increase and it can include high fever, persistent cough with sputum and respiratory distress occur. The disease is now treatable by antibiotics.

Years can go by from infection to outbreak
In Rhineland-Palatinate, 276 TBC cases were registered last year, according to the agency report. Of these, 68 were found in asylum seekers, as a spokeswoman for the State Investigation Office said. The young man in Waldsee had come to Germany in December as a refugee.

Although asylum seekers are routinely examined for tuberculosis after their arrival in Germany, the 17-year-old's lungs may not have been x-rayed when admitted to Frankfurt, according to the spokeswoman for the district administration.

However, the disease can be overlooked in any case because it can take years from infection to the onset of TBC. As the RKI writes on its website, there may even be "decades after infection" to a disease of tuberculosis, especially if the immune system is weakened. (Ad)