78 TB cases at Tokyo elderly care hospital: report

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Monday 78 patients and staff at an elderly care center had contracted tuberculosis (TB), including three people who died, a report said.

In February, two in-patients at the dementia care wing of Tokyo Oume Hospital were diagnosed with TB, Jiji Press said.

A follow-up study by the local public health center found a total of 78 infections in the wing, Jiji said without giving a breakdown of how many of them were patients and staff.

Of those, three people have died, including a man in his 60s who was one of the two original TB patients, the report said.

The infections might have spread as the man, who died in April, was seen walking around the wing and spitting on people, according to the report.

It was not immediately clear whether the two other deaths were directly related to tuberculosis, Jiji said.

(c) 2012 AFP