A SCHOOL pupil from North Yorkshire has been diagnosed as suffering from TB.

The Easingwold School student is receiving treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis and responding well, health experts confirmed today.

North Yorkshire Health Protection Agency revealed that everyone who had had close and prolonged contact with the pupil had been offered TB screening, involving a chest x-ray.

But it reassured parents that it was an isolated case, and there was very little risk of other youngsters developing the disease.

The agency flatly denied rumours circulating in Easingwold that three pupils at the school had contracted the illness, or were suspected of having it. A spokeswoman said the standard treatment given in such cases involved a course of three to four antibiotics, generally to be taken over a six-month period, with patients normally feeling better after two to four weeks. She believed it was not yet known how the illness had been contracted in this case.

The form of tuberculosis involved was a disease of the lungs, which could be passed from person to person, usually when an affected person is coughing. "However, this infection is not spread easily. The risk to other pupils is minimal as the infection is quite difficult to pick up.

"This is a single isolated case and no further action is required, but doctors at the North Yorkshire Health Protection Unit will keep the situation under review."

The spokeswoman was not willing to give the name, age, sex or home town of the infected pupil. The school takes pupils from Easingwold, numerous villages across the Vale of York and also communities within the northern end of City of York Council's area. A letter has been sent to parents of pupils who had had contact with the student.

She said there were 11.4 cases of TB per 100,000 population in Yorkshire and Humberside in 2002, but only about two or three cases per 100,000 in North Yorkshire.

Updated: 10:26 Friday, March 12, 2004