A teacher who was rushed to hospital after collapsing at CedarBridge Academy has told colleagues she has tested positive for a potentially harmful mould found at the school last year.

Dance teacher Zalika Millett, 30, was treated by paramedics after falling ill at the Island’s largest public school earlier this month.

In an email sent to fellow staff on Monday she said: “My collapse was a result of my hypersensitivity to whatever is ‘blessing’ our airways in CBA. As you know (or most of you) that I am aspergillus positive.”

One source at the school — who asked not to be named — claimed yesterday that Ms Millett was believed to be one of at least five teachers and two children to test positive for aspergillus since CedarBridge reopened in January after a two-month closure during which the school’s mould contamination was tackled.

The teacher said: “Tons of people are complaining of sickness. The school is trying to gather information and find out to what degree and to what extent people are falling poorly.

“They are trying to find out what areas are affected the most. People started to fall ill as soon as the school reopened but it’s just at the point now of being almost how it was before the shutdown.”

Potentially deadly aspergillus versicolor was one of the fungi discovered by experts at CedarBridge last July. The Devonshire school was closed down suddenly in November after increasing numbers of complaints of illness from teachers.

A clean-up was ordered by Education Minister Randy Horton and the school reopened in January after it was given a clean bill of health by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization.

Claims that the environment is still contaminated have persisted since then but Mr. Horton chastised an Opposition MP who suggested that was the case in the House of Assembly last week.

He said Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson was “speaking really without any truth”.

Last night an Education Ministry spokesperson released a statement acknowledging Ms Millett’s health concerns.

The statement said: “The Ministry of Education, Sports and Recreation is aware of Ms Millet’s health concerns and is troubled that she is experiencing such discomfort.”

The statement furthered explained that air quality tests have been conducted since the school reopened as part of a remediation phase. There have also been conversations with teachers to catalogue their concerns. The statement said: “As a follow-up to the PAHO visit, the Ministry of Health has made appointments to meet with teachers who expressed concerns, with the aim of investigating the epidemiology of each teacher’s complaints. Since then, the Ministry of Education has been provided with additional teacher concerns. This information will be passed on to the Ministry of Health.”

Ms Millett, who is known as Zazi, said in her message to colleagues: “My reasons for this email are to bring clarification to all the stories that are floating around and, more importantly, to thank all of you who have provided me with encouragement and support.

“So, no I am not pregnant, was not air ambulanced out of the island, do not have an ear infection, nor was my collapse due to diabetic complications.”

She added: “My spirits are very high, as this thing has only weakened me physically. Everyone take care and have a blessed week. Those of you who are feeling symptoms, I feel you.”

The unnamed teacher said Ms Millett’s collapse mirrored what happened to the first teacher to complain about mould at CedarBridge back in 2004. That woman was also rushed to hospital and is no longer able to work due to a debilitating illness.

“Zazi’s been complaining about her room now for quite some time,” said the teacher. “Temporarily they put her in the cafeteria but an expert came in and said the cafeteria was over an open tank and that’s why it was damp. For a time she went back to her room. After a while she was just overcome. I’m not quite sure what’s wrong. She lost her breath, collapsed. She was taken in an ambulance because she was just overcome. The fact that they had temporarily switched her rooms shows that she had been complaining about the environment.”

The teacher added: “Everybody has basically had the same experience to some degree. They were feeling her when they got the email.”

Another female CedarBridge teacher is currently at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore because her sinus problems cannot be treated on the Island.

Lawyer Paul Harshaw, who is representing the woman along with two other teachers who claim to have been made sick by mould at CedarBridge, said: “She has been referred overseas because the local doctors can’t figure out what’s causing her problems. We believe, and I don’t put it any higher than that, that it’s related to CedarBridge.”