Tuberculosis scare at Hyvinkää day care centre
Adult visitor diagnosed with disease
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A diagnosis for tuberculosis of an adult, who has visited the Kruununmaa day care centre in the southern Finnish city of Hyvinkää on a number of occasions, has raised concern. The children in two day care groups are to be tested for possible exposure to the disease.
Tuberculosis has declined so much in recent decades in Finland that newborn children have no longer routinely been given the BCG vaccine against the disease since 2006. The vaccine which protects against childhood tuberculosis is now offered only those in risk groups.
The bacteria that causes TB causes an infection in the lungs, or in other organs. Pulmonary tuberculosis is the most common, and is spread when a tuberculosis patient coughs, sneezes, or speaks. However, it is not spread very easily. Tuberculosis in other organs is not contagious.
Health authorities in Hyvinkää are now making efforts to contact everyone who may have been indoors with the diagnosed patient. The patient was treated at Hyvinkää Regional Hospital in the early autumn and is no longer contagious.
Children under the age of five have the greatest risk of getting tuberculosis. The children in two day care groups are to undergo blood tests this week and next. They will also be examined by a paediatrician.
Authorities in Hyvinkää said that there is no danger of infection at the day care centre.
Helsingin Sanomat
