More than 150 students and 20 teachers in the northern Hebei Province school have been infected with pulmonary tuberculosis said to have been spread by a teacher.

Some parents have demanded compensation for medical bills of 270 yuan (US$39.47), but the high school has refused to pay, because the source of infection could not be confirmed, Hebei Youth Daily reported yesterday. However, the school is to apply to the education authority for a subsidy.

Students said their teacher often coughed and spat throughout the last semester. On February 6, he phoned the school management to say he had TB.

The school arranged checkups for all students in the two classrooms and found more than 40 students were infected. Further checkups showed another 106 students and more than 20 teachers had been infected but none had developed the full-blown disease.

All the infected students and teachers are now back at school, it was reported.

(Shanghai Daily March 26, 2009)