Tuberculosis Claims Three Victims

Tuberculosis claimed the lives of three residents at a Eastercroft nursing home in Caldercruix,

Lanarkshire . NHS health board Lanarkshire, has braced itself for possible further cases of tuberculosis after the three elderly residents fell prey to the disease.

While two of the victims died in ‘early May’ the third succumbed to the disease in ‘early June’. A fourth resident has been reported to be recovering after being diagnosed with TB last October. This person is not considered to be infectious any longer and is therefore not separated from the other residents fo the nursing home.

Following the death of the three residents, the remaining residents and the 90 staff are now being screened for signs of tuberculosis infection.

NHS Lanarkshire reported, ‘Four residents of the Eastercroft House care home have been identified as having a diagnosis of TB.

Three of those residents, who were frail and had other long-standing health problems, have since died.

TB was certified as the cause of death of two residents and a contributory factor in the death of the third.

Advertisement

The fourth resident, who was diagnosed in October 2005, is continuing to respond to treatment in the care home.’

Diagnostic tests conducted last month revealed the cases to be linked. NHS Lanarkshire has since them set up an outbreak control team .A spokesman said: ‘If they are suffering from tuberculosis, they will be treated immediately.’

Advertisement

Each year Scotland has about 400 cases of TB reported. Lanarkshire alone reported 24 cases of tuberculosis last year. 48 deaths due to TB were reported north of the border last year.