GLASGOW health chiefs are desperately trying to trace anyone who had contact with a man suffering a drug-resistant form of TB.

The man, from overseas, is being treated in an isolation ward in the city's Gartnavel Hospital.

It's thought to be the first-ever Scottish case of XDRTB, an extreme strain of the disease.

It is prevalent in other parts of the world, including Africa, but this is the first case in the UK for five years.

Reports today said the man was a Somalian in his 30s, who was screened for infectious diseases when he arrived at Heathrow Airport last November seeking political asylum.

An X-ray revealed TB scars on his lungs, but the disease was not active and after an immigration interview he was allowed to travel to Scotland.

Doctors are using a combination of antibiotics to try to cure the man, while health officials have been called in to work on the case.

Medics are trying to trace anyone who has come into contact with the man.

Those closest to him are being monitored so urgent treatment can be organised.

City health chiefs today stressed XDR-TB was no more infectious than ordinary TB but required different treatment.

A statement from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it was treating a male patient from overseas for Extremely Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDRTB).

"The patient is being given the appropriate treatment in isolation at Gartnavel General Hospital. All of his close contacts are being screened for evidence of infection," the statement added.

Dr Oliver Blatchford, consultant in public health medicine at the Public Health Protection Unit, said: "The contacts of this case are being screened in the same way as ordinary TB contacts.

"They will be monitored closely to ensure any further cases are identified early and treated quickly."

It's the first case of XDRTB in Britain since it was redefined by the World Health Organisation in 2006. Previously there had been one case reported in England in 2003.

As reported by the Evening Times earlier this month, 20 pupils at a Glasgow primary school tested positive for exposure to TB after a teacher caught the infection.

Tested showed the pupils at Notre Dame Primary in Dowanhill had been exposed to TB.

A suspected case was identified in one pupil, with 19 others showing positive reactions to skin tests.

At the time parents accused health chiefs of "keeping them in the dark" over an apparent delay in telling them the teacher had contracted TB.

The development followed the completion by the health trust's Public Health Protection Unit of the first stage of a precautionary screening process of 340 children and 20 staff at the school.

Around 4% of the population in greater Glasgow and Clyde are thought to have had some degree of exposure to TB bacteria.