Rise in TB cases linked to foreign travel

mkpdavies · 03-11-2006, 04:25 PM

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...435028,00.html

Quote:

The number of cases of tuberculosis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose by nearly 11 per cent last year.
It was the largest increase since 1999, with the Health Protection Agency recording 8,113 cases during the year, compared with 7,321 in 2004.

The agency said that levels of TB — which kills 300 to 400 people in Britain each year — have been rising steadily across the country since the late 1980s. Almost two thirds of those who develop the disease are born abroad, in countries where TB is endemic. But it is impossible to say if they arrive here infected with endemic TB, acquire it in Britain from compatriots or catch it on visits to their countries of birth.

Quote:

John Watson, the head of the agency’s respiratory diseases department, said that the highest proportion of cases was among people from Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic backgrounds. Levels of TB in the British-born population remained stable.

Get ready for it.

Quote:

Caroline Flint, the Public Health Minister, said that TB was a global problem that could not be solved by countries in isolation.

You couldn't make it up.

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