News

Number of TB cases continues to rise in county

By Tim Tonkin
February 01, 2012

HAMPSHIRE has seen the number of cases of tuberculosis (TB) infection soar during the past decade, according to figures released this month.

The number of people with the disease increased almost year on year between 2002 and 2010.

In 2008 only 36 people in the county were diagnosed with the condition, compared to 67 in 2009 and 73 the following year.

The Health Protection Agency has released a report into infection rates across the whole of the South East, amid warnings that around one in 25 patients being treated for the disease is failing to fully complete their course of medication.

Cases of TB across the whole of the region were also up slightly, with 760 registered cases in 2010 compared to 750 in 2009. Young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 are the most affected age group.

The report also found that 77% of all cases were among foreign nationals or those born outside the UK.

Although treatable with six months of antibiotics, the efficacy of drugs is reduced if patients do not complete their course.

It also increases the chance of the disease being spread to others, particularly family and those in close contact with the patient.

Dr Muhammad Abid, consultant in communicable disease and TB lead in the South East region, said: “Cases of TB remain at their highest since the late 1980s and efforts to control the spread of disease must be kept up.

"The key to reducing levels of TB is early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. TB is a preventable and treatable condition, but if left untreated, can be life threatening.

“We remain very concerned that 4% of TB patients in the South East do not fully complete their treatment.

"Patients who do not finish the course of treatment risk developing a drug-resistant form of TB infection that is much more difficult to treat successfully.

“People who remain untreated are not only jeopardising their own health and wellbeing but also those people they are in close contact with as they may remain infectious.”

TB is a bacterial condition spread through the coughs and sneezes of an infected person. Symptoms include fever and night sweats, weight loss and a persistent cough.

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Although the bcg vaccination was stopped in 2005 for older school children it is now a choice for parents of babies and young children to make. The decision to stop vaccinating older children was due to the low occurence of TB in that age group at that time. However in that year there were 7000 cases recorded countrywide and were mainly in the homeless and new arrivals from countries where TB is rife . Cases were believed to be edging back after reaching a reported peak of 8463 countrywide in 2010. Of these where the birthplace of the infected was known 94%, of them 73% were from abroad. The largest proportions of cases were from the Indian (25%, 2033/8088), white (22%, 1752) and black African (19%,1520) ethnic groups. The highest rates were in the black African, Indian, Pakistani and black other ethnic groups. These figures are from The health protection agency 2011 tuberculosis report. Needless to say people can only draw their own conclusion as to the remedies for this importing of a new and more virulent strain of TB that is more resistant to drug treatment, and can go undetected in the carriers for several years. All in all though, when one considers there were 50,000 cases in the UK during the fifties, because of the vaccination programme, and now having come a long way in reducing the number of home grown cases that we see today, there can be no place for complacency by UK health agencies in combating this extremely infectious and ultimately deadly disease.

mai
02/02/2012 at 12:47

Spitting is a filthy habit that is very much part of out culture it seems the teenagers are the worst offenders this is one thing that need to be stopped, also they use to screen in schools and 13 year old injected against TB does this still happen?