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TB cases in Manchester 'up in 2007'

26/03/2008

The number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Greater Manchester grew from just over 420 in 2006 to 470 last year, according to provisional figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Only a quarter of TB cases in the city-region are potentially infectious. In the north-west, there were 764 cases of TB, compared with 759 in 2006.

However, London has the worst record, with 3,333 cases reported in 2007, which represents 39 per cent of Britain's total.

Professor Peter Borriello, director of the HPA's Centre for Infections, said: "We know the burden of TB exists mainly in high-risk groups including hard-to-reach communities in the UK.

"We are working with the Department of Health on outreach programmes to tackle directly the areas and groups with the highest numbers."

Nearly 8,500 cases of TB in the country as a whole were reported in 2007, down from 8,555 in the previous year.

According to the World Health Organisation about 1.7 million people die each year from the disease.