Disease breaks out at Ferrari factory

Workers at Ferrari's formula one factory in Italy have been told to keep working despite an outbreak of the infectious disease tuberculosis.

The British newspaper The Sun reports that a staff member was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with TB, a common and deadly disease that - if untreated - kills up to half of its victims.

The Sun said the staff member was a carbon fibre specialist, and Ferrari confirmed that he has a "mild form" of tuberculosis.

It is reported that the 25 technicians whose job it is to build Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa's cars for each grand prix are currently undergoing blood tests to see if they have also been infected.

Ferrari said Raikkonen and Massa will not need tests.

"We're not happy," a British employee is quoted as saying from Maranello.

"We think the lab should be shut down until we get an all-clear. It feels as if Ferrari are putting cars before people."

Source: F1-update motorsport.

I know absolutely nothing about this sort of stuff, so someone please help me out here. If the disease was at the place where Ferrari's car parts are made, then could the disease not have been carried in the car, where it could have spread to people in the pits?TannerRules

[QUOTE="TannerRules"]I know absolutely nothing about this sort of stuff, so someone please help me out here. If the disease was at the place where Ferrari's car parts are made, then could the disease not have been carried in the car, where it could have spread to people in the pits?cjek

You can only catch it from another person, by working near someone with it. There's a 22% risk of infection this way. Once you're infected there's only a 10% chance of you falling ill, but it can potentially hit you many years later, but the chance reduces over time. A non-ill infected person can pass it on for a few days, but after this the chances are low.

ahh, thanks :)