Tuberculosis Outbreak at Warsaw Kindergarten: Sanitary Inspection Tests Children

A tuberculosis outbreak at a kindergarten in Warsaw’s Białołęka district has prompted sanitary authorities to investigate children and staff following an initial diagnosis in a facility employee.

Outbreak Detected at Warsaw Kindergarten

An outbreak of tuberculosis has been detected at a kindergarten in Warsaw’s Białołęka district. The infectious form of the disease was diagnosed in a facility employee, after which testing began for children who had contact with her. As of August 7, pulmonary tuberculosis in a non-infectious form was confirmed in one child, while latent tuberculosis infection was detected in three additional children. Sanitary inspection is conducting an epidemiological investigation, and children are being successively referred for examinations.

Information about the situation at the kindergarten was first reported by Wirtualna Polska. A reader contacted the editorial office to report the detection of tuberculosis in one of the employees of the Białołęka facility and the referral of some children for further diagnostics.

The information was confirmed by the Voivodeship Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Warsaw. According to Katarzyna Dziurna, spokeswoman for WSSE, as of August 7, a tuberculosis outbreak was registered in Warsaw involving an employee of an educational facility diagnosed with infectious tuberculosis and a child with non-infectious tuberculosis.

Hospital Diagnostics and Patient Status

Following the detection of the disease, an epidemiological investigation was launched to identify individuals who had contact with the sick employee. The sanitary inspection provided the Mazovian Center for the Treatment of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis in Otwock with a list of 24 children.

According to information provided by the hospital management, 12 children from this group have already been examined and discharged. Five more are scheduled to be admitted next week. Three children had not reported to the ward at the time the information was provided, though they may have been referred to pulmonology clinics or other facilities.

Four children remained in the process of diagnostics and treatment. Pulmonary tuberculosis in a non-infectious form was confirmed in one of them.

Tests in another three children showed latent tuberculosis infection. This does not mean active disease. As the sanitary inspection representative explained, these children have no symptoms and do not pose an epidemiological threat.

Three children with latent infection are receiving preventative anti-tuberculosis medications at home. The treatment is intended to prevent the development of the active form of tuberculosis.

Diagnostics for children arriving at the Mazovian Center for the Treatment of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis primarily include the IGRA blood test—Quantiferon—used to detect tuberculosis infection, and a chest X-ray.

Sanitary Measures and Transmission Risks

The sanitary inspection’s actions do not end there. After examining individuals with documented, closer contact with the sick employee, another list is to be prepared covering children who had rarer contact. They are also to be included in diagnostics.

Crucial in this matter is distinguishing between the infection in the employee and the cases found in children. It is the person with pulmonary tuberculosis in the infectious phase who can be the source of infection for their surroundings.

Tuberculosis spreads primarily through the air. Infection can occur during prolonged and close contact with a sick person who expels bacilli through coughing, sneezing, or speaking, among other ways.

In the case of non-infectious tuberculosis and latent infection, individuals do not constitute a source of infection for their surroundings. Exactly such cases have been found so far among children associated with the facility.

The Warsaw sanitary inspection indicates that tuberculosis infection is not synonymous with falling ill. The average risk of developing the disease in an infected person is about 5 to 10 percent and is highest during the first two years after infection.

The most common symptom of respiratory tuberculosis is a cough lasting more than three weeks. Shortness of breath, chest pain, weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss, low-grade fever or fever, and night sweats may also occur.

In Poland, vaccination against tuberculosis with the BCG vaccine is mandatory and performed on newborns before discharge from the hospital. The vaccination primarily reduces the risk of the most severe forms of the disease in children, including tuberculous meningitis.