Confirmed case of tuberculosis at Peacehaven primary school: UK Health Security Agency offers screenings to close contacts

The UKHSA said their South East’s Health Protection Team is now working with specialist TB nurses ‘in relation to a confirmed case of TB’ at the school on Roderick Avenue. The UKHSA also confirmed the individual is a staff member.

The government agency said it has undertaken a detailed risk assessment in line with national guidance and said information about TB has been shared with staff and families of the school.

A UKHSA spokesperson said: “As a precaution close contacts of the case have been identified and are being offered screening.”

Natalie Adams, Consultant in Health Protection at UKHSA South East, said: “TB is a disease that typically requires close, prolonged and frequent contact before transmission occurs. Because of this, the greatest risk of spread is to people who live in the same household as a person with this disease. The risk to other contacts, including those in an educational setting, is low. TB can be cured when treated effectively with antibiotics.

“We are working closely with the school and following national guidelines, which include identifying those with greatest contact and arranging TB screening for them. As a precautionary measure we have decided to offer screening to some of those in the school to ensure no further onward transmission.

“It is important that everyone is aware of the symptoms of TB, which include a prolonged unexplained cough, fevers and weight loss. Greater awareness can mean the condition is diagnosed much faster.”

The UKHSA said TB symptoms include fever and night sweats, unexplained prolonged cough (more than three weeks) unexplained weight loss and blood in phlegm or spit. But the disease develops slowly in the body and symptoms usually take several months to start. The TB germ is usually spread in the air from another person who has TB of the lungs, often through coughs and sneezes. But the UKHSA said not all people with TB of the lungs are infectious to others and said close and prolonged contact with an actively infected person is necessary to transmit the infection. Infectious cases will stop being infectious after a couple of weeks of treatment.

The UKHSA said screening for TB in a close contact is done several weeks after exposure unless the contact already has symptoms, because it can take up to 12 weeks for the infection to show in the body. Blood or skin tests and chest x-rays taken too early can miss the infection.

The World Health Organisation said TB is probably the world’s current leading cause of death from a single infectious agent after it was replaced by COVID-19 for three years. The WHO said a total of 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023, including 161 000 people with HIV, but they said TB is curable and preventable.

Visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/tuberculosis-tb.

Meridian Community Primary School has been approached for comment.