LONDON (Reuters) - Tuberculosis is reaching crisis levels in Britain and urgent action needs to be taken to prevent a human disaster of the disease, British media reported on Saturday.

Citing professor John Grange at University College London, reports said levels of the disease in the British capital were similar to those seen in New York in 1989 just before an epidemic hit the city.

Across Britain TB cases have increased by 80 percent in 10 years with 7,000 cases reported in 1999, Grange said.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that Grange said an influx of refugees and asylum seekers, and the social disadvantages they have to live with, are partly to blame for the rise.

The BBC said Grange had called for more specialist nurses to tackle the problem.