Italy to extend TB testing of babies

ROME, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Italy's health minister says tuberculosis screening may be extended to all babies born at a Rome hospital where a nurse tested positive for TB.

Health officials ordered the screening of newborns after a 38-year-old nurse who worked at the Gemelli Hospital neonatal ward until July tested positive for TB, but up to now the tests have only been conducted on all babies born since January 1, 2011, Italian news agency ANSA reported Thursday.

But an administrative court in the Lazio region has backed a request by Italy's largest consumer watchdog organization, Codacons, to extend the screening to all babies.

The court said the "uncertainty about when the disease infected the nurse" had influenced their decision, and there were "several cases of babies born in 2010 with positive results."

Testing so far has shown TB infected more than 100 newborns at the hospital.