Consumption cases on the rise in UK

New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) The number of tuberculosis cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose by nearly 11 per cent last year, the highest rise in numbers since 1999 with the Health Protection Agency recording 8,113 cases during this year, compared with 7,321 in 2004.

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.

John Watson, the head of the agency's respiratory diseases department, said the highest proportion of cases was among people of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origins. The levels of TB in the British-born population remained stable.

London with 3,479, cases last year is the most affected centre.

It alone accounts for 43 per cent but the North West, East Midlands and the East of England recorded the biggest proportional increases. Only 22 per cent of non-UK origin patients who have been diagnosed with the disease in 2005 arrived in Britain during the last two years.

Dr Watson said, ''This suggests the increase is not the result of a large number of individuals arriving recently with TB but rather a combination of the disease developing in individuals who already infected for some time along with new infections acquired in the UK, or as a result of travel to other countries where TB is common.'' The regions with the highest proportion of new cases last year were the North West (588 in 2004 to 757 in 2005), the East Midlands (443 to 556) and the East of England (395 to 483). The North East and Northern Ireland experienced a decrease.

The Government yesterday said people from Bangladesh, Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand wishing to come to Britain were screened for TB under the Home Office programme.

''Screening generates data about infectious travellers to the UK, helping us to understand better, and respond more effectively to, the role of migration in TB in the UK,'' a spokesman said.

However, Health Protection Agency experts warned that such screening is at present capable of identifying only those with the active disease. Innumerable carriers with no symptoms will go undetected until new tests are ready.

Caroline Flint, Public Health Minister, said TB was a global problem. She said the World Health Organisation estimated that a third of the world's population was infected with TB and that it had developed a global strategy to tackle the problem.

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