TBC diseases at Brandenburg schools

Ministry: So far no further TB diseases

24/11/2013

According to the tuberculosis cases in eastern Brandenburg, there are currently no indications of further illnesses. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health pointed that out.

Prevent the spread of the disease
After new tuberculosis diseases became known in recent days in East Brandenburg, there are currently no indications of further cases. This was announced on Saturday a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health. Persons in contact with the patients should also be tested in the next few days. According to the health authorities, around 340 people in Brandenburg who had contact with the current patients are to be examined in order to prevent further spread of the disease.

Five out of nine patients children
The cases that have become known so far are eight Chechen asylum seekers in Eisenhüttenstadt, five of them children and one teacher of a sports school in Frankfurt (Oder). The patients from Eisenhüttenstadt are being treated in a special hospital in Berlin, according to the Ministry of Health the teacher is in a Brandenburg clinic. People who are in close contact with those affected are in danger of contracting as well. But as the Ministry of Health's statement says, this does not necessarily happen: „As a rule, only people whose immune system is weakened by poor nutrition or basic illnesses usually get ill.“

Poor hygiene increases the risk of infection
To date, 84 tuberculosis diseases have been registered in Brandenburg this year. In previous years, the average was 90 cases. Most occur as a consumption or „the moths“ known disease as infection of the lung, wherein persistent cough, chronic fatigue, weight loss, fever with nocturnal sweat attacks and a sting in the chest can be signs of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is usually transmitted by droplet infection, in which infected people expel through coughing tiny, droplets containing pathogens that infect their fellow man. With poor hygiene and in a small space, the risk of infection is particularly high. (Ad)