Scare at primary as pupils have TB

An outbreak of tuberculosis at a Sandwell primary school is being investigated, it emerged today.

Pupils and teachers at Langley Primary School in Oldbury are all being tested after two six-year-old pupils and a teacher were diagnosed with the disease.

All three are currently undergoing treatment and are expected to make a full recovery, health chiefs say.

The teacher, who has not been named, was diagnosed with the infectious strain of the disease shortly after the school broke up for summer.

All the pupils in her class were subsequently tested, with two showing positive results. The entire school is due to be tested next week.

Dr John Middleton, director of public health at Sandwell Primary Care Trust, said: "They are now receiving antibiotics and will be back at school as normal in September. While these two children have reacted to the test they are not infectious and do not pose a risk to anyone else."

Dr David Kirrage, director of the health protection agency's Sandwell Unit, added: "I would like to reassure parents that it is a routine procedure when we find that people in a single class have acquired TB to screen a wider group. In this instance we feel it is appropriate to screen the rest of the school."