Almost 30 patients of the Rotunda Maternity Hospital in Dublin have been screened for TB after a woman who gave birth in January was discovered to have the disease.
Meanwhile, the number of TB cases in the State was lower last year than in 1999, provisional estimates suggest.
The Rotunda says the risk of patients or staff having contracted TB is small. The issue arose after a woman, who had given birth in January, was referred back to the hospital by her GP because she was unwell.
She was found to have TB, and screening was arranged for 27 women who had shared wards with her and for about 10 staff. The last set of screening tests was taking place yesterday.
The women will have to have another test in about a month before they are finally declared clear, according to the acting master, Dr George Henry. Chest X-rays are being arranged for their babies.
The woman, who has been living in this country for some years, was transferred to an acute general hospital.
The rate of TB in the Republic fell last year following a rise in 1999, estimates suggest. In recent years the rate has been holding relatively steady at 11 to 13 cases per 100,000 people.
Cases have declined from about 600 (17 to 18 per 100,000) a year in the early 1990s to 457 in 1999 which represents 12.6 cases per 100,000. The 1999 figure was an increase on 1998 when 424 cases (11.7 per 100,000) were notified.
Final figures for last year are not available, but it seems likely that they will be back to 1998 levels. In the first nine months of last year, according to the National Disease Surveillance Centre, 287 cases of TB were notified to the authorities, and the final figure is expected to be about 420.
In January students at a boys' secondary school in Dublin were screened for TB after a classmate developed the disease. Twenty-one students were found to have TB infection but not the active disease. Inactive TB was common, the Eastern Regional Health Authority said.
pomorain@irish-times.ie