Queensland minister launches inquiry as TB goes untreated

PNG nationals and islanders infected with tuberculosis have been left untreated in far north Queensland.

PNG nationals and islanders infected with tuberculosis have been left untreated in far north Queensland in the face of a suspected systematic failure to monitor the spread of the disease.

Just weeks after a Torres Strait Island woman died of a drug-resistant TB strain, Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said regional health authorities might not have followed protocols to track the spread of the virus.

He ordered that his concerns be investigated in an independent review into the recent handling of infectious disease in the region, including fears that a nurse returning from West Africa had Ebola.

She was cleared this week of the virus.

Mr Springborg said a preliminary internal Health Department report already confirmed suspicions that “scores’’ of people who had tested positive for TB had not been treated or monitored.

“I’m talking about effective management and treatment of tracing people who’ve identified as having tuberculosis,’’ Mr Springborg said.

“I am concerned they (heath authorities) may not have acted in accordance with protocols.’’

He said there had been an “escalating number’’ of PNG nationals seeking treatment.

Health authorities yesterday confirmed they were trying to trace 20 people suspected of having close contact with a 32-year-old Torres Strait Islander woman who died late last month from the multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB strain.