Funding fear sparks tuberculosis alert
The most virulent forms of tuberculosis could soar in London if funding for the disease is axed, experts warned today.
The Find And Treat programme, which aims to tackle the spread of the disease, will run out of money in three months.
Its cash crisis comes amid a new TB alert, with one borough now the "white plague" capital of the western world. Newham has 108 cases per 100,000 people - more than twice the rate in India.
Altogether, the capital has almost 40 per cent of all TB cases in Britain, with 3,440 instances last year - five per cent up on 2008.
The programme's bosses are holding talks with the Government and NHS London tomorrow amid fears that it may be forced to close without continued funding. It receives around £800,000 annually from the Department of Health but so far has received no confirmation the money will continue from April.
Vanya Gant, clinical director for infection at University College Hospital, said: "We know that many more people living in London currently develop TB and for many reasons don't access either GP or hospital services.
"The Find And Treat programme and mobile X-ray unit go out and find at least some of these people and they are treated often before others get infected."
TB has been rising for 20 years, with 9,040 UK cases last year.
