FURTHER tests are to be carried out on a group of Hampshire schoolchildren at the centre of a tuberculosis scare.

The youngsters, who are aged ten and 11, tested positive to being exposed to the bacteria that causes TB after it was revealed a teacher had been diagnosed with the disease.

It is not yet known how the teacher, who has not been named and has not worked since the diagnosis, contracted the illness.

The majority of the 36 children who tested positive for the TB bacteria will not contract the disease, but doctors appointments and chest X-rays are now being arranged for them as a precaution.

The local authorities are working closely with Hampshire health services and specialist TB nurses to keep the situation under control.

Despite testing positive for the bacteria in what is known as a heaf test, none of the children are infectious.

All parents with pupils at the school - Portsdown Primary in Cosham, Portsmouth - have also been kept fully informed.

TB is generally spread by close and prolonged contact rather than by fleeting contact. The risk of catching the disease by passing someone in the street is very low.

Because the risk is higher for close contacts of cases the Health Protection Agency is following up these contacts to offer them screening and, if necessary, treatment.

Dr Edmundo Neira-Munoz, consultant in communicable diseases for Portsmouth, said: "We are working closely with the head teacher and Portsmouth City Council and trying to find out how the teacher caught the infection."