Five girls develop lung disease

Five more girls have developed the deadly lung disease tuberculosis at a school in Birmingham.

One pupil at Birchfield Independent School for Girls in Aston, was diagnosed last summer and two more students were struck down in February.

It has emerged that five more pupils at the school have contracted the disease, raising the total to eight.

A further 13 pupils are taking antibiotics to prevent them developing the disease.

Another nine pupils are awaiting chest X-rays after tests indicated they had been exposed to the disease and could have been infected.

All 165 pupils at the school, which teaches an Islamic curriculum, were tested for the disease after three Year 11 pupils were found to have developed the active, infectious type of the disease in their lungs.

None of the 30 girls have attended school since the skin tests returned positive results.

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