Soaring Rates of Tuberculosis Reported for Children Living in London

Rates of tuberculosis (TB) have risen 130 percent in children living in London over the past decade, reports a study in Archives of Disease in Childhood (2002; Vol. 86, No. 4:264-5). More TB is being diagnosed in 10- to 16-year-olds than in any other childhood age group. Data from the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre for 1982 to 1998 and the five yearly National Survey results for 1993 and 1998 were used to chart disease trends. These show that rates of TB notifications in London among children age 16 or younger fell between 1982 and 1988, but have risen every year since, to a cumulative rise of 130 percent by 1998.

In 1998 more than 4 out of 10 children with TB were Black Africans, compared with approximately one in four in 1993. One in five was from the Indian Subcontinent compared with one in two in 1993, and 1 in 10 were white compared with one in four in the earlier survey. Almost one out of two affected children was born overseas in 1998, slightly fewer than in 1993, but most of these children developed TB within 5 years of entering the U.K. The authors concluded that the high rate of infection among those born overseas emphasizes the importance of immunization. London health authorities use a mixture of universal and selective vaccination policies, but selective targeting can be difficult to implement, they said.

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