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BBC News
The
number of adults and children with the respiratory disease
tuberculosis (TB) in the UK has hit a 15-year high, according
to the latest figures.
Research
by the British Thoracic Society (BTS), published in the
journal Thorax, shows that TB cases have risen by nearly
a fifth between 1987 and 1998.
London
has more cases of the disease than any other large European
city, with more than 4,000 diagnoses a year in the capital.
The
BTS is warning that more specialist health staff are urgently
needed to tackle the upsurge in the disease.
TB nurses
and health visitors play a vital role ensuring that patients
with TB take their prescribed drugs, and tracing family
and friends who may be at risk of infection.
However,
the BTS has found that only 14% of the UK's TB hotspot districts
had adequate numbers of specialist staff in 1998.
A recent
study has also shown that England and Wales have half as
many lung physicians per 100,000 people as the rest of Europe.
The
BTS has issued a revised code of practice designed to combat
the disease. It suggests:
- all immigrants and longstay visitors to the UK from
Asia, Africa and South America should be screened for
TB. In 1998, 56% of reported TB cases were in people
not born in the UK
- the procedure should be performed at the port of
entry or by local health authorities
- screening should consist of a health interview, with
testing and treatment where necessary
- all TB cases must be notified to a designated Communicable
Disease Control officer
- BCG vaccination should be offered to certain higher
risk groups
Professor Peter Ormerod, Chairman of the British Thoracic
Society Joint TB committee, said TB infection rates
in the UK were still relatively low.
But he added: "TB is not a disease confined to
the history books - and there is no room for complacency.
"If
we want to maintain full control of the disease we must
be vigilant and fully implement these recommendations.
"Local
TB services and staff must be strengthened as a matter of
urgency."
Costing
millions
The
BTS study has been echoed in a new report published by the
British Lung Foundation (BLF).
The
study, Lung Report II, warns that complacency towards TB
is costing the NHS millions of pounds every year.
It is
estimated that treating a patient with multi-drug resistant
TB (MDR-TB) costs the NHS an average of more than £60,000
per person.
This
strain of the disease is usually caused by unmonitored patients
failing to take their treatment correctly and developing
resistance to effective anti-TB drugs.
Dr John
Moore-Gillon, BLF spokesman, said: "In the 1970s we
thought we were close to wiping out TB but now there are
more than 6,000 new cases each year, with London having
more cases than any other large European city.
"And,
as it was in Victorian times, it is still those with the
poorest living conditions who are worst affected by this
disease."
He added:
"But the real tragedy is that the development of new
drugs over the past 50 years could have led to the eradication
of the disease.
"World-wide
complacency about TB has led to an increasing burden on
resources in Britain and elsewhere and to a truly desperate
situation in many parts of the world."
The
BLF is calling for more investment, both in specialist TB
staff and research into combating drug resistant strains
of the disease.
At present,
only 2% of government funding for all medical research is
given to lung disease.
In England
alone, respiratory disease accounts for up to 20% of all
admissions to NHS hospitals.
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