2,000 checks after GP hit by TB

More than 2,000 patients and health workers are being offered medical checks after a GP was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The screening programme was prompted after the case involving a doctor working in Dartford, Kent, was reported to local health chiefs.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said patients of the GP with weak immune systems, as well as children, would be tested and offered vaccinations if necessary.

Staff who had come into close contact with the doctor and members of his family would also be offered the tests.

The spokesman said the risk of infection was low and referred to a similar case in the past when 500 people were tested after a health worker in the area contracted the disease. Nobody had been infected in that instance.

"The risk of infection is low and the measures that are being taken are just a precaution," he added.

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