Dear parents
We as a school are providing a vaccination programme which fights against the infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB). TB is an infectious disease caused by a microorganism called mycobacterium tuberculosis which infects white blood cells. TB affects mostly the lungs but can also affect organs in the nervous system, lymphatic system and circulatory system. TB can be caught. It spreads in the air from one person to the other. When person with TB disease coughs or sneezes then the bacteria from that person gets into the air. People nearby might breathe in the bacteria and get infected.
Some of the barriers that TB has to fight to get through, are cilia (a projection from cell) and mucus which line the respiratory system. The mucus then traps dust and microbes (microorganisms) which are then carried by the rhythmic beating of the cilia.
If your child had the disease or infection of TB then please let the school know. Also if you think that your child might have it but aren’t sure then here are some of the symptoms.
• A persistent cough which has lasted more than three weeks
• Breathlessness which gradually gets worse
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Night sweats
• Extreme tiredness and fatigue
• Unexplained pain for more than three weeks
If you do find that your child had most of these symptoms please don’t hesitate to let the school know. The short term affects of TB are very similar ot the symptoms. These include
• Persistent cough (again)
• Tiredness all the time
• Loss of appetite (again)
• Weight loss (again)
• Coughing blood
• Night sweats (again)
• Sharp chest pains
Unfortunately these are only the short term affects. The long term effects are much worse and include permanent damage to lungs and respiratory tract as well as other vital organs.
We highly recommend that your child, along with the rest of the school take the vaccination provided by the school to fight against TB. Vaccinations would make us immune to certain diseases, this one particularly focusing on being immune to TB. The vaccination is just a small procedure of an injection. The vaccine is called BCG which