Britain may face a resurgent TB problem, according to figures released today.
Cases of the disease increased by five per cent last year – reaching 9,042, according to the Health Protection Agency.
The figures were released in advance of World TB Day tomorrow and highlight World Health Organisation concerns about a growing problem in Europe, partly linked to the spread of drug-resistant strains.
HPA experts said the figures were provisional.
More than a third of cases were in London while nearly 75 per cent involved people not born in the UK. More than 1,000 cases were in the West Midlands.
Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, of the HPA, said: "Despite the observed increase in TB cases in 2011, this provisional data should be interpreted with caution because numbers are likely to change due to late notifications and de-notification of cases. It is therefore too early to determine whether this is a return to the upward trend of cases seen in the past two decades in the UK."
He added: "TB continues to disproportionately affect those in hard to reach and vulnerable groups, particularly migrants, so it is crucial that we have specific strategies in place to address this."
Meanwhile the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence released a "blueprint" for tackling the problem.
The guidance sets out how health services and voluntary organisations can work with "hard to reach" groups to ensure disease is diagnosed and treatment is completed. These include prisoners, drug addicts and the homeless.
Guidance developer Andrew Hayward, of University College London, said: “Although many people think of tuberculosis as a problem of the past, levels of disease are increasing in London and other major cities. The development of multidrug resistant tuberculosis and extremely drug resistant tuberculosis threaten our ability to treat the disease in the future.
"Tackling the problem requires investment in the development of TB teams so that they can reach out into the community to find tuberculosis in hard-to-reach groups earlier and support patients to take a full course of treatment.
"The guidance recommends screening for tuberculosis at hostels for homeless people, prisons and drug treatment centres and shows how TB teams can work in partnership with other services to support even the most complex patients to complete their treatment."
Leave a Reply