HEALTH bosses investigating an outbreak of tuberculosis at a Teignbridge secondary school say the disease spread far wider than had been expected.

About 200 students and staff at Teign School, Kingsteignton, tested positive for latent TB, which is not infectious.

But ten more people went on to develop the more serious, active form of the disease.

Public Health England followed national guidelines when dealing with the outbreak by first screening family and former classmates.

But it now says if another outbreak were to occur, wider testing would be carried out sooner in future.

Dr Sarah Harrison, deputy director of health protection for PHE, said the disease had spread far wider than expected. It is also thought that the strain of TB may have been particularly infectious.

Currently, the outbreak control team, a multi-agency body, is looking at how the infection was dealt with and is due to report on its findings in the next few months.

It is believed the infection was brought in by a student who joined the school from overseas and was ill for several months.

He was not diagnosed with TB until he left the school in the summer of 2014.

After the initial testing of family and classmates, the remainder of the school’s staff and pupils were tested later.

It was then discovered 200 were found to have latent TB.

It is possible the ten people who went on to develop active TB may not have done so if they had been tested earlier.

However, other factors have to be considered such as how each individual’s immune system will react.

A PHE spokesman said the infection had not ‘behaved’ as it would normally be expected to and meant health control experts had to change their strategy.

Were TB diagnosed in a teenager in future, wider screening would be carried out from the outset.