A few parts of London exhibit higher rates of tuberculosis (TB) compared to countries like Iraq and East African country, Rwanda. While more than 80 per cent of London TB cases occur in people who were born overseas, it is unlikely they brought active TB into the country.
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And a few borough wards are recording markedly more – areas of Hounslow, Brent, Harrow, Newham and Ealing have rates of more than 150 per 100,000 people.
“It is astounding that TB is such a prevalent disease in London and that misconceptions about the disease are so common”. In reality, the disease spreads when people have a close and prolonged contact with someone who is constantly coughing and sneezing.
Dr Onkar Sahota, chair of the London Assembly Health Committee, said one woman he encountered had caught the disease as a young girl but was not diagnosed with TB until she was screened in her 80s.
The innovative model sees a specialist outreach team working alongside more than 200 NHS and NGO front line services to tackle TB among homeless people, drug or alcohol users, vulnerable migrants and people who have been in prison.
“If we don’t get a grip on London’s TB situation now, the harder and more expensive it will be to tackle in the years to come”, he said.
Public Health England has previously highlighted TB as a particular issue needing urgent attention nationally, and the Queen’s Nursing Institute recently called for better care and vaccination for homeless people.
‘We took our eye off the ball when we made a decision to stop screening altogether in the 1970s, ‘ he said. A total of 6,520 cases were recorded, down from 7,257 in 2013.
Globally nine million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died from the disease in 2013, according to World Health Organization figures.
A spokeswoman for City Hall said: “The Mayor takes the issue of TB seriously and recognises that it is a significant health challenge for London”.
In addition, the Greater London Authority should consider including TB services as part of its pan-London rough sleeping services.
In contrast to the London figures, the latest Public Health England data showed a decrease in the number of reported cases of TB in England.
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“If the Mayor is to reduce health inequalities in London he must combat TB and its underlying social factors”, Sahota wrote [pdf] in the report.
