Deadly TB superstrains are here

Deadly new strains of tuberculosis are creeping into Britain as the disease tightens its grip on Europe.

Scientists today warned that drug-resistant versions of the illness have reached record levels overseas, with serious implications for the UK.

The new "superstrains" have already arrived in London, with more than three dozen cases identified last year.

A new report reveals that three of the 10 global hotspots for the new strains are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - whose citizens will soon have the right to live and work in the UK.

Experts fear the relaxation of border controls when the three Baltic states join the European Union on 1 May will hasten the spread of drug-resistant strains.

Dr Mario Riviglione, director of the World Health Organisation's Stop TB department, said: "We are very worried about these new strains.

Untreated, they are a death sentence."

Tuberculosis is ranked with malaria and Aids as one of the three most pressing global health problems.

New data published by the World Health Organisation today reveals that there are now nine million new cases of tuberculosis worldwide annually, killing two million people a year. Until recently, most cases have been curable with drugs - though many victims in developing countries do not have access to the treatment.

But today it emerged that drugresistant strains are becoming increasingly rife. The WHO report reveals that 37 new cases of multi-drug-resistant TB were diagnosed in the UK in 2000 - the latest national figures available.

A total of 21 of the 37 victims had not had tuberculosis before, suggesting that they caught a superstrain from someone else. The remainder had previously been treated with standard drugs, suggesting that their bodies had become resistant to them.

The disease is highly infectious, with each new case posing a serious health threat.

Although superstrains can be treated with powerful drugs, the options are limited and the condition often proves fatal. It is not

known how many of the British victims died.

Dr Riviglione said: "Multi-drugresistant TB without the correct drugs is untreatable and in most cases fatal. Though curing ' normal' TB is cheap and effective - a six-month course of medicines costs about £6 - treating drugresistant TB is 100 times more expensive. Even then a cure is not guaranteed."

Britain is the only country in Europe with rising rates of TB, which is spread when an infected person coughs. The majority of cases are in London, with outbreaks in every borough last year.

A total of 2,839 Londoners contracted the disease in 2003, almost double the rate 15 years ago.

The capital is vulnerable because of the mobility of the population and high levels of immigration.

Fears have been raised that the situation will become even more serious with the increased freedom of movement between eastern Europe and the UK - associated with the expansion of the European Union in May.

Up to 25,000 eastern Europeans are expected to arrive in Britain to live and work in the coming year.

Almost a third of new cases of TB in Estonia no longer respond to at least one of the two main TB drugs, known as isoniazid and rifampicin, while 12 per cent of cases are resistant to both.

The figures are similar in Latvia and Lithuania, where conventional treatment is also becoming increasingly ineffective.

Paul Sommerfeld, chairman of the London-based charity TB Alert, said: "Border controls only pick up three or four cases a year in the UK.

"Freedom of movement in the European Union will have an effect but it will work both ways.

"People in Estonia may be just as worried about people from somewhere like Brent - where TB infection rates are very high - spreading the disease in their country as people in Britain may be about Estonia."