THE THIRD FORM STUDENT who caused a health scare at the Coleridge & Parry School was back in classes since last week.
In addition, said Principal Vincent Fergusson, there was no need for any all-clear to be given since there was no “unfit environment” at the school.
The principal was speaking yesterday morning just before entering the school’s premises.
His comments came in the wake of the revelation that the school had gone into a heightened state of alert after there were reports of a possible exposure of students and teachers to tuberculosis.
Yesterday, health nurses were at the school for its 9 a.m. start.
Principal Fergusson, who arrived just before 10 a.m. denied knowledge of any case of tuberculosis, referring instead to “an upper respiratory tract infection”.
And the nurses who turned up yesterday were only there to check the immunisation cards of students to ensure that they had been inoculated against a number of infectious diseases, he stressed.
“Maybe one of our students was exposed to a respiratory challenge and what the Ministry of Health and the ministry [of Education] have decided is that they would do some damage control and all of the third years were asked to bring their immunisation cards to check to see if they have been protected from any such respiratory tract diseases,” Fergusson said.
The head said the child’s case was isolated and no one else was affected.
“None of our children, as far as I am concerned, was away for school any extended period of time, like two weeks, three weeks, four weeks.”
He said the third form student was also not away for any extended period of time and was back in school last week after being hospitalised for a week.
“So this is purely a protective measure. It is testimony to the fact we have an excellent health system in Barbados,” he said.
However, yesterday afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed that the upper respiratory tract infection at the school was the contagious TB disease.
That confirmation came from acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand.
Tuberculosis, which is caused by bacteria, affects the lungs and, if not treated properly, can be fatal.
It is spread through the air when a person sneezes, coughs or even speaks.
Yesterday, in an interview with Starcom Network, Dr Ferdinand said officials were conducting an investigation at the school to determine the level of contamination.
Health officials, she added, were working with officials of the school, teachers and parents “to have a speedy resolution of the matter”.
A release from the Government Information Service (GIS) said a team from the Maurice Byer Polyclinic visited the school on Monday and conducted a rapid assessment of 170 children as a precautionary measure.
Parents, the release said, were then notified by letter of the possibility that some students may have been exposed to a respiratory illness and requested them to send their children’s immunisation cards to the school for a review yesterday.
Parents of students who had not been vaccinated against TB were then asked to take them to Maurice Byer Polyclinic for further management.
