Almost 90 babies potentially exposed to tuberculosis at Toronto hospital

Tuberculosis has been largely under control in Canada for half a century, so word that more than 80 infants were potentially exposed to the deadly lung disease in a Toronto hospital was disturbing.

The Toronto Star reports that 87 babies were being tested for TB after a nurse who worked in Scarborough General Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit was found to have the disease.

Dr. Peter Azzopardi, the hospital's chief of pediatrics, said the unidentified nurse "absolutely followed the protocols of the hospital," reporting her symptoms as soon as she felt ill.

At first, tests did not reveal she had the disease and her symptoms were so slight she was allowed to continue working in the neonatal unit. But results of a secondary test four weeks later confirmed TB on July 18, the Star said, and she stopped working to begin treatment.

"This serves as a reminder to all of us that these types of infections are in our community," said Azzopardi. "We have to be vigilant for symptoms and take them seriously."

According to Health Canada, about 1,600 new cases of TB are reported in Canada every year. The bacterial disease, once known as consumption and a favourite plot device of 19th-century novelists, gradually destroys the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. Before antibiotics made it curable, special hospitals known as sanatoriums once dotted the country, dedicated to treating TB.

Despite modern drugs, TB still kills up to two million people a year worldwide, according to the Canadian Lung Association. TB is still rampant in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and the association says the number of cases have increased by 20 per cent in the last decade. Concerns have been raised about the growth of drug-resistant strains of the disease. About 70 per cent of TB cases reported in Canada originate outside the country.

The Star reported it's not clear how or when the nurse at Scarborough hospital caught the disease, because TB can remain dormant for long periods.

Azzopardi said the nurse had such a low level of infection that "her chances of infecting anyone are extremely low."

The babies were given skin tests and chest x-rays. The hospital does not expect any of them to test positive for the disease but all are being treated with antibiotics as a precaution.

Still, the news scared the father of Jason Sangster, who was born at Scarborough eight weeks prematurely and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit. A month after he was released, the family was called to have their newborn tested.

"I just couldn't believe it," Jason's dad, Matthew Sangster, told the Star. "It's a child with respiratory problems right from the get-go. I mean, how can that happen?"

Health-care workers are routinely screened for TB when hired but no further testing is required unless the initial test is positive, they are exposed to a patient with active TB, suspect they may have been exposed or develop symptoms.