[Acrylic-bob]

In October 2004 the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, offered the following facts on Tuberculosis.

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious, but treatable, infectious disease.
• TB in England increased by 25 per cent over the last ten years and is still rising;
over 1700 more cases occur each year than in 1987 when TB was at its lowest.
• 6638 people were newly diagnosed with TB in England in the year 2002. That is 13 for
every 100,000 people in our population – fewer than some, but more than several other
western European countries where TB rates in 2001 ranged from 5 to 44 per 100,000
population.
• About as many people in England develop TB each year as now become infected
with HIV.
• Every year around 350 people in England die from TB.
• Most TB in England occurs among people who live in inner cities. Two out of every
five cases are in London. The disease has doubled in London in the last ten years and a
few London boroughs now have TB rates comparable with some developing countries.
• People are at higher risk of TB if they have lived in parts of the world where TB is more
common. The disease follows patterns of migration and is therefore more common in
certain ethnic groups, especially if they were born abroad: in England, around seven out of every ten people with TB come from an ethnic minority population group
> nearly two thirds of our TB patients were born abroad
> about half of the TB patients who were born abroad are diagnosed with the disease
within five years of first entering our country
• HIV infection weakens a person’s immunity to TB. In England, this overlap is still
relatively small compared to other parts of the world, but at least three per cent of
people with TB are estimated to be HIV positive (higher in London).
• TB in cattle – bovine TB – is increasing in England. Very few human cases are due to
this bovine form, but continued vigilance is required.
• TB can be controlled by:
> promptly recognising and treating people with the disease
> ensuring that people with the disease complete their treatment. Lapsing on treatment
not only fails to cure the disease but contributes to the growth of drug resistance
> identifying and treating people with early infection, to Google Page Ranking event them later
developing the full disease
> prevention through BCG immunisation (BCG gives limited protection against
TB so cannot, on its own, control the disease)
• Drug resistant TB takes longer and is more difficult and expensive to treat. In England,
around six per cent of the TB bacteria from patients with TB are resistant to one or
more drug and one per cent show multidrug resistance. Higher rates in other parts
of the world threaten these low rates
• Left untreated, a person with infectious TB of the lungs infects on average 10-15
people every year. The risk of a contact acquiring infection depends on the nature and duration of their exposure: