Scary stuff !! What next the plague ?? Old illnesses making a come back

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/11624032.Tuberculosis__on_the_rise__in_Bolton/


The comments under the article seem to blame immigration

If at first you don't succeed, blame migrants!

To be fair in the article it says about immigration and illnesses being brought in from over seas, I'm more bothered about catching TB than who's to blame , Bolton's full of immigrants that boats sailed so to speak and there's bugger all I can do about that, apart from a UKIP protest vote ....

It was about 12-15 years ago but I'm sure when I was at school it was standard to be immunised against TB. I only skimmed the article but didn't see any mention of immunisation but if I'm right it does suggest two probably causes (Which aren't mutually exclusive) to me, either people aren't getting immunised which I'm sure I read is a big issue at the moment or it's people coming from abroad in countries where they don't immunise people against it. Either way its scary stuff.

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Originally posted by woodster
Scary stuff !! What next the plague ?? Old illnesses making a come back

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/11624032.Tuberculosis__on_the_rise__in_Bolton/


The comments under the article seem to blame immigration

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My dad was a TB Control Officer in the 60's and 70's and read hundreds (like 600 -800) of X-rays a day - they were 75mm on a reel with a handle that he wound past a light box - he told me then that most South Africans had old TB scars on their lungs but their healthy immune system had beaten it. He also got TB (I guess from patients coughing in his face) but by then he and a colleague had introduced a new drug regime that made you non-infectious on the second day and cured you within a few months - they published their results in the medical journals and received queries from all over the world as a result. Unfortunately non-compliance by patients have lead to MDR strains.

Anyway what I want to say is healthy non-smokers and moderate drinkers who practice normal hygiene such as not sharing drinking vessels and regular hand washing and keeping hands and fingers out of their noses and mouths have little to fear from TB unless its the Multiple Drug Resistant strain - then be very afraid.