Great Britain - Western European capital of tuberculosis

According to Alimuddin Zumla, senior tuberculosis expert at University College London, more than 9,000 cases of tuberculosis are diagnosed each year in the UK. This problem is particularly acute in London, the capital of Great Britain, where there are up to 40% of all diagnosed cases of tuberculosis infection, recorded throughout the country.

The present situation in London resembles that observed in American prisons in the 90s. Last century. Then, as part of the disease outbreaks caused by multidrug-resistant strains of mycobacteria, huge financial injections were needed to control the disease.

Tuberculosis, known as the "white plague" in Victorian times, because the complexion of the sick became too pale, has been able to return and is now prevailing in the poorest areas.

Poor living conditions, inadequate ventilation, overcrowding, which prevailed even in Victorian times and have remained in some places until now, are the direct causes of a higher incidence of tuberculosis in certain areas of London. In the United Kingdom, as in all European countries, the highest incidence is observed in high-risk groups, namely among migrants, the homeless, refugees, drug addicts, prisoners and the infected by HIV.

In one of the messages published in December of last year, there are reports that the number of tuberculosis cases in Britain has peaked in 2009 in the past 30 years, amounting to 9,040 cases. The number of new TB cases caused by antibiotic resistant strains has almost doubled in the past decade.

The increase in the number of tuberculosis cases in the United Kingdom is mainly recorded among populations whose representatives were not born in the United Kingdom, but most of them are not new migrants. Almost 85% of cases involve people who have lived in the UK for two years or more, and half of them are five years or more. This information indicates that the reason for the increased incidence of tuberculosis is not only the importation of pathogenic microorganisms from the immigration areas, i.e. the cases are not imported. Therefore, one of the main ways to solve the current problem is to improve the epidemiological situation in the country itself.