A case of infectious tuberculosis has been confirmed in Maidstone.

The Health Protection Agency said the case has been discovered in a person who visits a day centre for the homeless.

It is reassuring people in the town that they are highly unlikely to have the infection.

Three further cases of illness in homeless people who use the Maidstone Day Centre, in Knightrider Street, are also being investigated, although TB has not yet been confirmed.

The agency’s Kent Health Protection Unit has set up a mobile chest x-ray unit to screen people who use the day centre and a nearby hostel where homeless people can sleep.

Staff at the day centre and hostel will also be offered chest x-rays although the agency said the risk of infection to anyone who has had close, prolonged contact with the infected person is very low.

Screening will show whether anyone has become infected but even if they are infected it does not mean they have the active disease.

Instead it may mean they will need treatment with antibiotics to prevent the infection from developing into the active disease later.

Dr Jeremy Lissamore, consultant in communicable disease control at Kent Health Protection Unit, said: "We want to reassure people in the town that without prolonged close contact, such as that experienced by family or household members, the risk of contacting TB is negligible. Even for those people who have had some contact, the risk is extremely low."

Angela Clay, Maidstone Day Centre trustee, said: "We have been working closely with the Health Protection Agency. The suspected case only came to light two days ago, although we were not told the case had been confirmed as infectious.

"We will naturally follow the agency’s advice. The day centre is currently open and we will carry on what we do, sensibly."

She added: "Homeless people generally have a weakened immune system which can increase their risk of TB. When they come to us, we offer them a nutritious diet which does have an effect after time."

An agency spokesman said the person who had been diagnosed with TB would now be in the care of a chest physician based at Maidstone Hospital. The standard treatment is to prescribe a course of antibiotics and monitor the person for up to two years

TB is a disease caused by infection with mycobacterium tuberculosis, usually affecting the lungs. It is usually transmitted when a person with infection in the lung has close and sustained contact with others, when they cough and sneeze.

Only some people with TB in the lungs are infectious to others.

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