TB cases double over 10 years

The number of children diagnosed with tuberculosis in London has more than doubled in 10 years, latest figures reveal.

Soaring rates of infection of the potentially fatal lung disease have made London the TB capital of the western world.

Cases of the illness in children under 16 rose by 130 per cent between 1988 and 1998, reaching 231 four years ago.

Experts believe the rise could be linked with children coming to London from countries where TB is widespread, with almost half of those diagnosed with TB being born abroad. Last year 7,000 cases were diagnosed, bringing Britain back to Seventies TB levels. Current levels could be higher.

Most of these developed TB within five years of arriving in England, according to the study today in the medical journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Dr Philip Atkinson, of the Public Health Laboratory Service, and Dr Mike Sharland of London's St George's Hospital carried out the study of TB rates in children from 1982 to 1998. Between 1982 and 1988 cases fell from about 150 to 100 per year.