TB bacteria are fighting back against drugs |
Drug resistant tuberculosis is posing a growing threat in the UK, probably fuelled by immigration, say experts. A Health Protection Agency team examined 28,620 TB infections in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2005.
They found the proportion of cases resistant to any of the first-line drugs rose from 5.6% to 7.9%. The British Medical Journal study also found a small increase in cases of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).