Drug resistant TB 'rising in UK'

Drug resistant tuberculosis is posing a growing threat in the UK, probably fuelled by immigration, say experts.

A Health Protection Agency team examined 28,620 TB infections in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2005.

They found the proportion of cases resistant to any of the first-line drugs rose from 5.6% to 7.9%.

The British Medical Journal study also found a small increase in cases of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).

However, although the number of people becoming infected with drug-resistant TB has almost doubled, from 170 in 1998 to 336 in 2005, they still make up a small proportion of the total number of TB infections.
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