'Worrying' rise of tuberculosis cases in Shropshire
A "worrying" rise in numbers of people being diagnosed with tuberculosis has been recorded, new figures for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin revealed.
The rate of the disease rose in Telford & Wrekin to 5.1 for every 100,000 people between 2017 and 2019, up from 4 per every 100,000 between 2016 and 2018.
That means an extra seven to nine cases of TB have been diagnosed in the region per year, according to Public Health England.
In Shropshire, five people were diagnosed on average between 2017 and 2019, the same rate as between 2016 and 2018.
In the whole of England, the number of cases of tuberculosis rose by two per cent to 4,725 last year – ending seven successive years of falling numbers.
The disease is curable using antibiotics but can be fatal if left untreated.
Charity TB Alert said it is responsible for more deaths than any other infection worldwide, and called for PHE's national TB action plan for 2020-25 to be launched as soon as possible.
Mike Mandelbaum, chief executive of the organisation, said: "It is worrying that the number of people with tuberculosis rose in 2019.
"We should take this as an early warning sign so that we don’t return to a pattern of rising rates like we saw in the 1990s and 2000s."
Infected
Like Covid-19, tuberculosis is an airborne disease that can be passed on by inhaling tiny droplets from an infected person's coughs and sneezes.
But it does not spread as easily as the cold or the flu, with prolonged periods of close contact with an infected person needed to catch it – and not everyone with TB is infectious.
Mr Mandelbaum added: "TB can affect nearly any part of the body but most often it affects people’s lungs, which is also the organ attacked by Covid-19.
"If people have TB or have been cured of it but left with damaged lungs, they may be at increased risk from Covid-19.
"They should ensure that any doctor treating or advising them knows their full medical history."
The West Midlands had the second highest number of cases on average of the nine English regions, with 615.
A PHE spokesman said England has surpassed the World Health Organization's targets to reduce TB rates to 10 per 100,000 and is progressing towards the "pre-elimination stage", defined as 10 cases per million.
He added: “Despite a small rise in case numbers, the TB rate in England remains below the WHO definition of a low-incidence country, for a third consecutive year."
