Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T04:31:52.015Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tuberculosis in Inner London: evidence for an increase in young adults and immigrants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

T. M. S. Barkham ,
A. Drury ,
A. D. Pearson ,
R. Dybowski  and
H. Atkinson
T. M. S. Barkham
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7EH
A. Drury
Affiliation:
Department of Thoracic Medicine, St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7EH
A. D. Pearson
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7EH
R. Dybowski
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7EH
H. Atkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7EH
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We report a marked increase in the rate of notifications of tuberculosis in young adults in the London Borough of Lambeth. Analysis of notifications made to the Proper Officer over a 10-year period showed that the age specific notification rate in the cohort aged 20–44 years increased from 30/100000 in 1983 to 51/100000 in 1992. Analysis of St. Thomas' Hospital laboratory records of patients seen between 1984 and 1991 from whom Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated showed an increase in the number of patients of African origin from five in the first half of the study period (1984–7) to 25 in the second half (1988–91): 21 of these 25 had immigrated into England within 4 years of their illness. This finding is being further investigated in a prospective study of ethnicity, travel history and date of immigration of Lambeth residents notified with tuberculosis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 115 , Issue 1 , August 1995 , pp. 133 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

References

1.Watson, JM. Tuberculosis in Britain today. Notifications are no longer falling. BMJ 1993; 306: 221–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Watson, JM, Fern, KJ, Porter, JDH, Whitmore, SE. Notification of tuberculosis in England and Wales, 1982–1989. CDR Rev 1991; 1: 13–6.Google ScholarPubMed
3. Anon. Tuberculosis morbidity – United States, 1992. MMWR 1993; 42: 696–7, 703–4.Google Scholar
4.Watson, JM. Tuberculosis in perspective. CDR Rev 1991; 1: 129–32.Google Scholar
5.Wang, JS, Allen, EA, Enarson, DA, Grzybowski, S. Tuberculosis in recent Asian immigrants to British Columbia, Canada. Tubercle 1991; 72: 277–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Wartski, SA. Tuberculosis in Ethiopian immigrants. Is J Med Sci 1991; 27: 288–92.Google ScholarPubMed
7.Levin, AC, Gums, JG, Grauer, K. Tuberculosis. The primary care physician's role in eradication. Postgrad Med 1993; 93: 46–50, 53–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Narain, JP, Raviglione, MC, Kochi, A. HIV-associated tuberculosis in developing countries: epidemiology and strategies for prevention. Tuber Lung Dis 1992; 73: 311–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Population Estimates Unit. OPCS, Room 227, St Catherines House, 10 Kingsway, London.Google Scholar
10. OPCS. Communicable disease statistics. Series MB2 No. 15. Table 5. 1988.Google Scholar
11.Balarajan, R, Raleigh, VS. The ethnic populations of England and Wales: the 1991 census. Health Trends 1992; 24: 113–6.Google Scholar
12.Yates, MD, Grange, JM. A bacteriological survey of tuberculosis due to the human tubercle bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in south-east England: 1984–91. Epidemiol Infect 1993; 110: 609–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Report from the British Thoracic and Tuberculosis Association. BMJ 1975; 3: 698–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Etkind, SC. The role of the Public Health Department in tuberculosis. Med Clin North Am 1993; 77: 1303–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Warburton, AR, Jenkins, PA, Waight, PA, Watson, JM. Drug resistance in initial isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in England and Wales, 1982–91. CDR Rev 1993; 3: R175–9.Google Scholar