THOUSANDS of pupils are to be vaccinated against tuberculosis to prevent a major outbreak in Bolton.

A mass programme will target 15 to 16 year olds after the town was pinpointed as a high risk area following a major outbreak of the potentially fatal disease in the Midlands.

Bolton has a high prevalence of TB cases, similar to Leicester, because of its a large ethnic minority population. Ten years ago, Bolton was the sixth worst district in Britain.

While the number of cases have dropped, there are still more than 70 cases each year -- 70 per cent among the town's 40,000 ethnic community.The recent decision by the government to release BCG vaccine supplies will see school leavers in Bolton among the first to be targeted in the nationwide programme. The Department of Health has finally released the BCG vaccine after Bolton children failed to have the jab for three years because of an international shortage.

Head of communicable diseases in Bolton, Dr Robert Aston, said talks are now underway for a programme of vaccination by July.

But the Government has not yet revealed how much vaccine will be sent or when.

Dr Aston, a Government health adviser, said: "We halved TB figures in five years from 100 cases to 50 new cases a year. We led the country in setting up structures. This figure has risen more recently with 72 cases last year. But the rate of the rise is still in line with the national average."

Parents will soon get letters from the communicable disease team asking them to bring in their children to special clinics.

Children from 13 years old will only be called in when the Government releases further supplies.

Dr Aston said: "We would need to vaccinate in the summer term which is the worst time for school. They are frantic with the onset of GCSEs.

"We will have to set up special clinics across Wigan and Bolton."

An investigation was still underway today into the largest outbreak of TB in recent times which has struck a secondary school in Leicester.

A total of 60 students from the school, which has a large number of ethnic pupils, are showing signs of having the disease with 24 cases confirmed. But today Dr Ashton urged parents in Bolton not to panic.

He said Neo-natal babies, contact cases and immigrants had still been receiving the jab despite the shortage keeping TB under control.

The disease, which can strike any part of the body but is more likely to be fatal in the lungs, builds up slowly with a persistent cough, night sweats and weight loss.

Dr Aston said: "We tell doctors and in particularly the ethnic community not to rule out TB."

Vulnerable communities could pick up the illness by travelling to countries that do not have an innoculation system.

Once people are contaminated with TB, it will remain in the family unit, very rarely spreading to other communities.

The disease expert said: "Seventy per cent of the Bolton cases are in the ethnic minority. This may be due to frequent travel to see relatives in countries where TB is prevalent."

Dr Aston, who said between 500 and 1,000 teenagers will be the first to get the jab across Wigan and Bolton. Dr Aston condemned the Government's decision last autumn to release a batch of the BCG vaccine to London only.

Dr Aston said: "I have had letters from Bolton parents urging me to carry out a vaccination programme. I have agreed and written back urging them to contact their local MP about the matter. I do not know why there has been no vaccine. I'm just a doctor, not a politician.

"This was scandalous. Now we have been contacted by the health department saying that they have finally been able to send us some BCG vaccine.

"We don't know when or how much. Be we will start the immunisation programme as soon as we possibly can."