Limerick senior hurling team to be tested for TB
The entire Limerick Senior Hurling squad, along with the team manager and backroom staff are to be tested for tuberculosis by the Mid-Western Health Service Executive after one of the players, who is also a HSE employee, contracted the desease.
The county edition of this weekend’s Limerick Leader reveals that the tests on the squad will be carried out in the coming days.
The paper reports that the player first became unwell in the first week in February when he accompanied the team to the Breaffy International Sports Hotel, where the team had set up a training camp in preparation for their Allianz League campaign.
According to manager Richie Bennis “he was under the weather that weekend, but still came with us because he was afraid of losing his place in the squad. He is fiercly determined.”
According to bennis, the unnamed player is currently recovering at home and is expected to be back in training in about three weeks time.
The blood testing of all 36 players on the Liemrick Squad, along with the back room staff will be tested days before their NHL clash with Galway at the Gaelic Grounds next week.
While TB was rampant in the 1940s and 1950s, the desease is easily treatable nowadays with antibiotics. There are roughly between 400 and 500 cases of TB each year in Ireland.