Tuberculosis outbreak being investigated

Following the recent and controversial death of an illegal immigrant from tuberculosis in a Palma national health hospital, an outbreak has been reported.

23/05/2013 00:00

Palma.Yesterday, the Minister for Health, Marti Sansaloni, did confirm that another case of tuberculosis was being treated but refused to give any further information about where the patients live in order to avoid causing any public alarm. This second case comes just weeks after an illegal Senegalese immigrant, Alpha Pam, died from the illness in a national health hospital in Palma.

Diagnosed too late
Apparently, he was not diagnosed in time because he did not have a health card and this has sparked a political battle and promoted calls for the Balearic Minister for health to resign.

In the meantime, it appears that an outbreak of tuberculosis in a school is being investigated in the Palma neighbourhood of Son Gotleu.
But, the Minister refused to make any concrete comments yesterday neither wanting to name the school not confirm its location.
Nevertheless, the Minister did confirm that the Department of Epidemiology is investigating the outbreak and testing everybody who has come into contact with this latest patient for tuberculosis.

Trying to calm public concern, the Minister said that this is not an isolated incident and there are an average of 181 cases of tuberculosis reported every year in the Balearics.

No rise in cases
The Minister said that so far this year, there have certainly been no signs that the numbers are going to rise significantly.
In the meantime, the health service, while calling for calm, has urged anyone suspecting they are suffering from the illness to visit their local doctor as soon as possible.