TB making 'alarming' comeback in UK
Pastor Dale Morgan
TB making 'alarming' comeback in UK*
From correspondents in London
November 03, 2006 04:48am
Article from: Reuters
TUBERCULOSISis making an "alarming" comeback in Britain, decades after
doctors came close to eradicating the disease, public health officials
said today.
More than 8000 people were infected last year by the airborne disease,
one of the biggest killers in the Victorian era when it was known as
White Death due to the pallor which shrouded its victims.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the number of TB cases in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland jumped more than 10 per cent in
2005, with South Asians most at risk.
"An increase of this magnitude over the course of one year is a
concern," said the HPA's Professor Peter Borriello.
The rise was the largest in a single year since 1999.
Thirty-eight per cent of those infected were described as Indian,
Pakistani or Bangladeshi.
Dr John Watson, head of the independent agency's respiratory diseases
department, said TB levels were steady among people born in Britain.
However, the big rise was not down to new arrivals in the country, he said.
Instead, those with TB may have been infected for some time, caught the
disease in Britain or while travelling abroad.
Health experts attribute the rise in TB to the growth in air travel
between continents and overcrowding in poor areas.
Other factors include the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the
disease and the spread of AIDS. The HIV infection makes people more
susceptible to infections such as TB.
Globally, TB infects an estimated 8.7 million people a year and kills
two million a year despite widespread control efforts.
The disease is spread by airborne bacteria that settle into the lungs
and cause long-term infection.
Once known as consumption and rife among the urban poor, its threat
receded with the advent of antibiotics and vaccinations.
Dr John Moore-Gillon, chairman of the British Thoracic Society Joint TB
Committee and president of the British Lung Foundation, said its
comeback was worrying.
"These figures are alarming and the situation is now very urgent," he said.
"This 19th century disease is a rapidly increasing threat in 21st
century Britain."
The government said it had an action plan to tackle the disease, but
stressed that countries must work together.
Opposition Conservative health spokesman Andrew Murrison said the
government had "failed to get a grip" on the problem.