Londoners Magazine Cough again?
By Kate Livesey • May 2nd, 2008 • Category: NewsIt’s time to start rocking a face mask à la Michael Jackson. A study published today linked a 40 per cent increase in drug-resistant cases of tuberculosis in Britain with immigration.
The report, which is sure to add fuel to the BNP’s xenophobic fire, was conducted by researchers from the Health Protection Agency. They came to their conclusions by studying data from 28,620 confirmed cases of tuberculosis.
TB is caused by a bacterial infection, which normally attacks the lungs but can also affect kidneys and skin.
The number of cases in all forms rose from 6,400 in 1992 to 8,000 in 2006 – half of them in London.
The study said the prevalence of TB in London is high among homeless people, prisoners and “problem drug users, who are often infectious, difficult to treat, and have drug resistant disease”- something to remember the next time you buy your weekend drug stash off a muntered, coughing man named “Chalky” working a street corner.
Kate Livesey is our premier brain on vodcasting. She's a tough talking New Yorker, with knee high boots and enormous sunglasses. She finds English men "intriguing".
Favourite place in London: The Great Court at the British Museum.
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