Gold Fields denied on Wednesday that it has had any cases of the so-called ”killer TB” (tuberculosis) at any of its mines.
”Gold Fields wishes to state that news reports this morning with headlines such as ‘Killer TB spreads to mines’ and ‘Deadly new TB strain found in Free State’, are misleading.
”To date there have been no cases of the so-called ”Killer TB” diagnosed at any of Gold Fields’ mines,” the mining group stated.
It added it was important to note that not all cases of Extremely Drug Resistant-Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) were of the rare and particularly virulent strain referred to as ”Killer TB”.
”While there have been no confirmed cases of XDR-TB at any of Gold Fields’ mines, three potential cases are being investigated at the St Helena Hospital in Welkom. However, these are not of the strain referred to as ”Killer TB”, and all three patients are responding well to conventional therapy,” it said.
Gold Fields said it was working with experts in the field of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment to establish precautionary management and control initiatives for any possible future cases of XDR-TB, and in particular the highly virulent strain.
”Gold Fields is also taking steps, in collaboration with the Free State department of health, to treat any possible future cases of MDR and XDR-TB at designated facilities such as the Moroka Hospital in Thaba N’chu in the Free State,” the mining group added.
”Gold Fields Health manages tuberculosis according to the national TB control guidelines of the Department of Health, the Chamber of Mines’ best practice guidelines for tuberculosis, as well the guidelines for TB control programmes of the department of minerals and energy,” it said. — I-Net Bridge