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TUBERCULOSIS remains a significant public health
problem in England and Wales with more than 17,500 cases reported in
three years, it emerged yesterday.
The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) began a
special surveillance programme in 1998 to provide better understanding
of why TB cases had been steadily increasing since the late 1980s.
Figures from the programme were presented yesterday
at the PHLS's conference at Warwick University.
They show that from 1998-2000 there were 17,593
cases of TB reported in England and Wales.
Most of the recent cases have been in London but
many cases were reported in other urban areas. Certain groups,
particularly those born outside the UK where TB is common, are at
especially high risk of the disease.
Dr John Watson, of the PHLS Communicable Disease
Surveillance Centre, said, "Increasingly we live in a global society
where no country is immune to what is happening with infectious disease
elsewhere in the world. This means that a key priority is to understand
as fully as possible what is happening with TB in this country and
elsewhere and to ensure that screening and treatment are accessible to
those who need it most."
He said much was already being done to target
groups at increased risk of the disease with prevention advice and
information about accessing screening and treatment.
But the figures from the surveillance programme
showed how important it was to continue with this work, he said.
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