According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in the UK there were 9040 news cases of Tuberculosis infection in 2009 which the highest figure since 9266 cases were reported in England and Wales in 1979, they also report that multi-resistant cases, resistant to the first line drug treatment has doubled. Figures from the HPA show that there were around 206 in 2000 and now show circa 390 cases in 2009, it is revealed that within these figures strains resistant to multiple antibiotics (MDR cases, multiple drug resistance) is still low at 1.2% but has risen over the last decade. What we have also seen is a rise of multidrug resistant cases from 28 in 2000 to 56 in 2009.
One of the problems with TB infection is that the symptoms can often take sometime to manifest in the patient. Once identified treatment can also take some time. It is likely that infection will be treated for around six months and often with two or three drugs simultaneously. The MDR cases may take even longer to respond and be treated for around eighteen months or longer and the treatment can be complicated.
It is worth noting that if TB is caught early it is treatable and we need to remain vigilant for cases and the potential sources of the infection remembering that some of the groups that need helps and should be monitored are perhaps in so called hard to reach populations
I agree with and echo the word of Dr Paul Cosford from the HPA as reported on the Reuters website from where I took the following quote
“TB is sadly not a disease of the past and the figures today serve as an important reality check,"
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