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Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/uk...-C2FSwUp1yxGx9iWg?docId=N0050011303370179093A
Tests on immigrants 'miss most TB'
(UKPA) ? 1 day ago
Screening procedures for tuberculosis in immigrants in the UK are missing the majority of cases, new research has revealed.
Using new blood checks rather than chest X-rays would detect over 90% of imported latent TB, experts said, as opposed to the current failure to detect more than 70% of cases of latent infection.
A team of researchers at Imperial College London said new methods of blood testing would mean that people with imported latent TB could be given a course of antibiotics to prevent them from developing an active form of the disease.
TB is caused by a bacterial infection which is normally asymptomatic, but around one in 10 infections leads to active disease, which attacks the lungs and kills around half of people affected.
The incidence of TB has risen dramatically in Britain over the last decade, particularly because of a 98% increase in cases among people who move to the country from overseas, the research said...
Tests on immigrants 'miss most TB'
(UKPA) ? 1 day ago
Screening procedures for tuberculosis in immigrants in the UK are missing the majority of cases, new research has revealed.
Using new blood checks rather than chest X-rays would detect over 90% of imported latent TB, experts said, as opposed to the current failure to detect more than 70% of cases of latent infection.
A team of researchers at Imperial College London said new methods of blood testing would mean that people with imported latent TB could be given a course of antibiotics to prevent them from developing an active form of the disease.
TB is caused by a bacterial infection which is normally asymptomatic, but around one in 10 infections leads to active disease, which attacks the lungs and kills around half of people affected.
The incidence of TB has risen dramatically in Britain over the last decade, particularly because of a 98% increase in cases among people who move to the country from overseas, the research said...