Bloodbank@HSA staff tests positive for active TB
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said one of its staff at Bloodbank@HSA has tested positive for active tuberculosis (TB).
It said it was informed by the Tuberculosis Control Unit (TBCU) about the case.
HSA said the staff member tested positive in April.
The New Paper understands that the Ministry of Health (MOH) has been notified, and the staff member was given medical leave and started on treatment.
TNP also understands that the staff works at the front desk and handles donor registration.
The Bloodbank@HSA is located within the HSA building in Outram, and handles the collection of blood from donors.
The facility handled about 28,000 of the 116,000 whole blood donations nationwide last year.
TNP understands that not all staff at the Bloodbank@HSA were tested for the disease.
TB is an airborne bacterial infection that is spread through close and prolonged contact with a person with the active form of the disease.
Those with latent TB have no symptoms, do not feel sick and cannot spread the disease to others.
It is unclear if there are any latent TB cases among the staff at Bloodbank@HSA.
HSA said TBCU, which handles the national TB control programme and is responsible for the prevention and control of the disease, advised that there was "no risk to blood donors as they did not have prolonged contact with the affected staff".
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