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New cases of tuberculosis up by 11 per cent in five years
February 14, 2001The numbers of new cases of tuberculosis (TB) in England and Wales have risen by 11 per cent in five years, shows a national survey published this week in Thorax. The largest increases have occurred in urban areas. Over half of all patients were born outside the UK. The survey, a joint project between the Public Health Laboratory Service, the British Thoracic Society, and the Department of Health, collected data on all people diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1998 in England and Wales. It is the last of a series of surveys that have been conducted every five years since 1978.
The results show that almost 11 in every 100 000 people were diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1998. This represents a rise of 8 per cent since 1993, and 16 per cent since 1988. In London the rate has risen by almost 60 per cent, to 31.6 per 100 000 of the population. And the number of cases has soared by 71 per cent over the decade Some other urban areas of Britain have experienced even higher rates than London.
The numbers of new cases among children as a whole have fallen 10 per cent since 1993, but they have doubled in London. The highest rise in cases was recorded among people aged between 15 and 34, with more than a third occurring in this age group. There were more diagnoses of tuberculosis among men, overall, but among people from the Indian Subcontinent women formed the higher proportion. Indian Subcontinent among whom rates are still high at 121 per 100,000 of the population.
Rates among white people and people from the Indian Subcontinent continued to fall, the survey shows, although these are still high at 121 per 100, 000 among the latter. But they increased among all other ethnic groups, with the largest rises recorded among people of black African and Chinese origin at, respectively, 210 and just over 77 per 100 000 of the population. Recent entrants to the UK had higher rates of the disease than those living in the UK for five or more years, or those who had been born in the UK.
Treatment and prevention strategies need to be kept under continuous review, conclude the authors, to control the spread of the disease.
AlphaGalileo Foundation
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