A pre-schooler, 2-year-old girl, was diagnosed with latent TB after a trainee teacher of Bridges Montessori facility was diagnosed with active TB earlier this month.
The director of Bridges Montessori Preschool Ms Irene Toh said that the school learned for the first time that a trainee teacher had been diagnosed with active TB on 12 August.
The school which is located at 200 Punggol Seventeenth Ave informed parents of its students (about 50 pre-schoolers) via email about the case, and the steps the school was taking. Whatsapp messages were also sent to the parents to ensure that they have read the emails sent.
The school began to fumigate and sanitise the premises by a health and environmental cleaning agency on 15 August.
On 16 August, the Tuberculosis Control Unit (TBCU) conducted a site assessment of the premises, which consists of two houses.
On 23 August, twenty-nine pre-schoolers along with seven staff members,including teachers and cleaners, who were based in the same affected house as the trainee were screened.
Ms Toh said that the trainee had gone through a medical assessment in her home country and passed the test. She had only spent three weeks at the school as an observer. However, after a pre-employment screening in Singapore which was conducted by Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association, the teacher was diagnosed with active TB.
The doctor found a “scar” in the trainee’s lungs, and referred her for further checks and advised that she could continue with “normal activities” at the time.
Ms Toh said that a mutual agreement with the teacher had been reached that she would leave the school as she had planned to return to her home country.
In a separate case, one of the preschool teachers of Little Greenhouse pre-school at Bukit Batok Street 31, was confirmed to have contracted active tuberculosis (TB). As a result, the students and the staffs of the school are obliged to take the screening to make sure that they are not infected.
