Two die after TB hits Glasgow pub

by MA Reporter Two men have died after contracting tuberculosis in a Glasgow pub, health officials have confirmed. Five people were diagnosed with the disease, after a cluster of cases which has been traced back to a barmaid. A total of 170 staff and regulars of the Lord Darnley pub have been screened by Greater Glasgow Health Board, and one man is still being treated in hospital. For the general public, the day-to-day contact with any individual who is coughing or spitting presents a minimal risk Officials have stressed that there is little chance of the disease spreading further. TB is caused by a bacterium which usually affects the chest and can be caught from someone else's cough. The first case came to light in March, when a barmaid at the pub, in the Pollokshields area of the city, was confirmed as having the disease. She has now made a full recovery. The screening programme diagnosed a further four cases. Eddie Weldon, 74, and John Calderwood, 56, who were both customers of the bar, died of illnesses related to the infection in May and September. A third person is still in hospital, but is responding well to treatment, while the fourth made a full recovery. Testing was also offered to people in nearby pubs, but no other cases have emerged so far. Dr Jim McMenamin, consultant in Public Health Medicine for Greater Glasgow NHS Board, said that there were about 400 cases of TB every year in Scotland ­ with up to 45% centred on the Glasgow area. An estimated 10% of patients infected die. Dr McMenamin told BBC Radio Scotland that it was "comparatively uncommon" for a cluster to be associated with a pub. He said: "For the general public, the day-to-day contact with any individual who is coughing or spitting presents a minimal risk. "Even for those people who have been passing through that pub, it would be a very minimal contact that they would have had." Dr McMenamin said it was "relatively difficult" to transmit TB unless someone was in very close proximity for a long time. "If you look at a programme like Cheers on the television, when you have someone who is always in the pub, that is the kind of person who would be targeted. "These people would appear, from our results, to be the most at risk.