TB tests for patients of trainee

Twenty-one people treated by an Otago student dentist this year have been warned they may have caught tuberculosis from the trainee.

Otago medical officer of health Dr John Holmes yesterday confirmed that a student from the University of Otago School of Dentistry had TB.

The disease had been picked up this week during routine screening before students were offered inoculation against TB.

Patients whom the third-year student had treated were informed and instructed to come in for a test, Dr Holmes said.

The likelihood of any of them being infected was "very low indeed" he said. However, even if the tests were negative, the patients would be retested in three months, just to be sure.

"The people I've spoken to today were grateful we had told them, but didn't think it was a big deal," he said.

TB is an airborne disease, usually passed on by coughing, sneezing or breathing on someone. The student's family, friends and flatmates would also be advised to get a TB test.

- NZPA