A case of tuberculosis was identified in an employee of a nursery in Enghein-les-Bains. As a precaution, the babies were put on antibiotics.
A case of tuberculosis was discovered in a nursery worker in Val d’Oise. As a precaution, the health authorities have requested the placement of 38 babies under two years of age on antibiotics for a period of two months. This, in order to prevent them from falling ill, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) told AFP on Tuesday.
Screening of “all children in contact with the sick person” has been undertaken, or about 80 young children, according to the words of a spokesperson for the ARS confirming information from the Parisian. For the time being, “all the tests carried out on babies who have been in contact with her for more than eight hours have been found to be negative,” said the deputy director general of the group of nurseries “Little Red Riding Hood”, managing the establishment.
The deputy general manager of the establishment’s group assured that the employee had been vaccinated, but that as is customary for the employees, an additional tuberculosis test as well as an x-ray of the lungs were carried out, which allowed to reveal that she was ill.
5,000 cases of tuberculosis per year in France
Tuberculosis affects around 5,000 people each year, a figure that has been declining for 20 years, according to the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance. Vaccination has not been compulsory in France since 2007, except for medical personnel, and is strongly recommended for residents of certain more affected areas, such as Guyana, Mayotte, Ile-de-France and Val- from Oise.
The pulmonary form of tuberculosis is very contagious, spread by air, especially by coughing. WHO recalled that tuberculosis “was one of the world’s deadliest single infectious agent diseases”.
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