It’s not one of those awards you want to win, is it?
But apparently, it’s London, with nearly 3,500 new cases last year. That means a mean incidence of 42/100,000 – the highest of any Western European capital city. As you might expect, the rates vary from area to area in the city, with areas high in immigrants recording the greater incidences. As ever, poverty, poor nutrition, alcoholism and homelessness also played a part. There is a 5% mortality rate for the disease in the Greater London area.
These figures are peanuts compared with Cape Town, of course, which comfortably maintains its place as TB capital of the World with an incidence of almost 1000/100,000.
I’m doing my best to reduce the rates in London and over here, but it doesn’t help when people keep coughing on each other.
Please stop.
Which makes the requisite TB X-ray for a UK visa all the more irritating.
I’m actually surprised that TB rates in London aren’t higher… I mean, one person spewing germs on the Tube must make for quite a spread?
Tara > To get a visa to live in SA, I had to have a chest x-ray to check I didnt have TB – now THAT’S ridiculous.
richsch > Indeed, but I think that the population over there is generally healthier than many over here – hence it can’t get much of a foothold.