Cases of tuberculosis rose in Britain last year and the number of people infected reached its highest level since the late 1980s, Reuters quoted the government"s Health Protection Agency as saying. The HPA said that despite earlier signs of stabilising, tuberculosis (TB) was now increasing with the burden of infections in major cities like London. "Cases of TB remain at their highest since the late 1980s, and efforts to control... must be kept up," said Ibrahim Abubakar, head of tuberculosis at the agency"s centre for infections. The HPA said they were not able to say why the rise had occurred, but that no one particular factor was responsible for the increase, which has been gradual. Up to a third of the people worldwide are infected with the bacterium that causes TB, although only a small percentage of people ever develop the disease. Some studies have shown that people with substance abuse problems are more prone to the illness than the general population. The HPA said 8,655 cases of TB in Britain were reported last year, up almost 3 percent from 2007, when 8,411 cases were reported. It said 39 percent of cases were in London. TB is caused by bacteria and usually affects the lungs. Antibiotics can cure TB, but about 1.7 million people around the world die from it every year. The HPA said the number of patients completing treatment has improved in Britain for the first time in recent years with 81 percent of patients completing in 2007, up 2 percent on the previous year. Medicines for TB must be taken over a series of several months and patients often do not take their full course -- a factor which in turn has spawned drug resistance and made TB more dangerous and difficult to treat. "The key to reducing levels of TB is early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. TB is a preventable and treatable condition but...it can be life-threatening," said Abubakar. The AIDS epidemic drove up the number of TB cases across the world in the late 1980s and 1990s because the immune suppression caused by HIV can make a person far more susceptible to TB.
