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Warning as Peterborough TB cases triple
THE number of people developing the potentially deadly tuberculosis (TB) disease in Peterborough has more than tripled in 10 years.
THE number of people developing the potentially deadly tuberculosis (TB) disease in Peterborough has more than tripled in 10 years.According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), patients from Peterborough account for almost half those who contracted the infection in Cambridgeshire in 2008 with 53 of 97 cases being from the city.
Numbers have improved slightly so far in 2009, standing at 40, but it is still a huge rise on 2007, when 26 people from the city had it out of 53 county-wide.
In 1999 just 14 city patients were infected out of 29 in Cambridgeshire.
TB attacks the lungs and has symptoms including a chronic cough, blood in the phlegm, fevers, weight loss and night sweats. The cause of the increase in cases is uncertain.
Kay Hircock, of Peterborough Community Services, said: "We recognise for many reasons that TB is an issue in Peterborough, so 18 months ago NHS Peterborough and community services set up a dedicated community TB nursing team.
"Based at the Healthy Living Centre, in Princes Street, the team works closely with the consultant-led hospital TB team to provide immunisation, screening, tracing people who have had contact with those with the disease and treating the infection.
"The team has also run a ‘TB or not TB' training programme to more than 100 health practitioners in Peterborough to raise awareness and to spot the symptoms of TB, which has trained nearly 300 people in the community."
Compared with the rest of the UK, the East of England has fewer cases of TB, but the increase in cases between 2007 and 2008 was higher than any other region and well above the national rise.
Dr Mike Lilley, TB head for the HPA in the East Midlands, said: "Cases of TB remain at their highest level since the 1980s, and efforts to control and accelerate the downward trend must be maintained.
"Last year we saw a small decrease which suggested a possible stabilisation of the infection but this year's figures show we cannot be confident this is the case.
"Some of the increase seen in Cambridgeshire could be attributed to late reporting from laboratories but it is clear that we must remain vigilant and keep TB high on the agenda."
The disease is difficult to catch, but certain people have a greater chance of becoming ill if exposed to TB including children, the elderly, diabetics, people on steroids, those who are HIV positive, people living in overcrowded and poor housing, those with chronic bad health and those dependent on drugs or alcohol.
Dr Lilley added: "Due to the importance the HPA places on controlling TB, we work closely with public health and NHS colleagues on a national and local level to monitor progress towards the goal of controlling and eventually eliminating this disease.
"The burden of TB exists mainly in high risk groups including hard-to-reach communities in the UK.
"We continue to work on programmes to directly tackle areas with the highest number of cases."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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