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UK tuberculosis jabs no longer mandatory


Bebi

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I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this, but I feel I have to say something about it and bring it to people's attention.

I was talking in the chat room and the subject of innoculations came up. Brad mentioned that the UK no longer has a program to innoculate all teenagers against TB. I find this shocking, as my father in law passed away last week after carrying TB for 20 years. After minimal research (mainly through looking for conformation that it had been stopped) I've found that TB is in fact on the increase in the UK.

BCG immunisation protects against tuberculosis (TB). Various groups of people at increased risk of getting TB are offered BCG - listed below. It is no longer routinely given to all schoolchildren as it was until autumn 2005.

http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068684/

TB worldwide is a massive problem. In England cases fell progressively until the mid-1980s but started to rise again in the early 1990s. Cases have increased by 25% in the last 10 years. Around 6,500 cases are now reported each year.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/...losis/index.htm

About 8000 new cases of TB are currently reported each year in the United Kingdom. Most cases occur in major cities, particularly in London.

The Health Protection Agency aims to contribute to the elimination of TB in England through support to the National Health Service and the Department of Health in the key areas identified for controlling TB in the National Action Plan, Stopping Tuberculosis in England, published by the Chief Medical Officer in October 2004.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/tb/menu.htm

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This is a REAL hot potato in the UK, and most politicians are 'fudging' the issue. The rise in incidences of Tuberculosis is attributed to immigration. The government doesn't want to acknowledge this, as it spoils the "immigration is only ever a benefit to our country" message that they have worked so hard to nurture.

If it demanded that all immigrants get the TB jab, then they could be accused of racial bias. If , on the other hand, they mandated universal TB jabs for all then they would avoid the charge of 'racism', but would cause a national uproar and focus attention on the issue; the very last thing they want to do.

Meanwhile, people are dying.

Meow Purr.

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This is where I get confused lol as far as I was aware a TB jab was universal, well it was when I was at school. I just can't comprehend why it would be made available to only those at risk just a year after proposing an "Action Plan" to fight it... I know for a fact that when my children come of age they'll be having it whether considered "at risk" or not.

Edited by Bebi
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bradleigh mistaking hit the 'report this post' button instead of the 'add reply'. This is what he wanted to add to the discussion;

well this is my info TB is most commonly spread in droplets being coughed or sneezed into the air.

However, You need to have either frequent or close prolonged contact with an infected person to catch the disease. It is unlikely to be spread through spitting

The symptoms of TB are not always specific to that disease.

Also, people who are infected with TB do not always show symptoms. If they are healthy their bodies can usually stop the TB bacteria from growing.

The most common symptoms are:

A cough, with or without sputum, lasting three weeks or more

Tiredness

Loss of appetite

Loss of weight

Night sweats

Coughing up blood (although this is a widely known symptom of TB, it may occur only very late and is not essential for the diagnosis).

Swollen glands (usually in the neck)

The most serious complications are

Major haemorrhage from the lungs (now rare)

Death (this occurs in about 7% of cases, usually to elderly people)

Worldwide, there are about 2 million deaths associated with TB each year.

Although TB is no longer common in the UK, since the mid-1980s the number of cases reported each year has risen to around 7,000.

Every year about 350 people in England die from TB. In 2002, there were 384 deaths associated with tuberculosis.

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TB VACCINATIONS are due to resume across Wiltshire. The tuberculosis jabs have not been administered since the 2001/02 school year.

The resumption of school vaccinations in Swindon comes as instances of the disease in the area continue to rise.

In 1999, there were 18 recorded cases; last year there were 31.

Much of the increase in recorded cases was down to it being diagnosed in people arriving from countries where the disease is far more prevalent.

Swindon Primary Care Trust's head of children and family services, Adina Grace, said: "The school nursing service has made arrangements to immunise Year 9 pupils in school during this coming term, as well as any Year 11 pupils who did not receive the immunisation due to absence or ill health during previous programmes.

"This will involve some 2,700 young people."

Wiltshire County Council spokesman Adam Butcher said children across the county could also expect the vaccination programme to resume now reserves of vaccine had been acquired.

TB once claimed many lives. Wuthering Heights author Emily Bronte died of it, as did 19th Century poet Coleridge.

The American Lung Association says TB has killed a billion people worldwide in the last 200 years.

After the Second World War patients had to spend a year in a country sanatorium. Now the illness is curable with a six-month course of antibiotics.

Regions with a high prevalence of the disease include much of Africa and South East Asia, parts of South and Central America, Djibouti and the Yemen in the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe.

go

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I'm doing a google spot-search across different counties for recent TB cases. I started with Yorkshire and this was the first link that Google gave me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_y...ire/6592823.stm

Hospital warns patients over TB

Edit:Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 23:53 GMT 00:53 UK

Officials at York Hospital have written to nearly 600 patients after a member of their healthcare staff was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The unnamed woman has been ill since last September, but the disease has only just been diagnosed.

This worries me, as it shows that even now it can take 7 months to diagnose TB. This kind of negates the "at risk" groups and shows even more that everybody needs this immunisation.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az...ogy/table24.htm

Table 24: Tuberculosis – Rate Bands by Primary Care Trust, England, 2003-2005

I'm only quoting the figures I'm mentioning, so please use the above link to view the full table.

Increase in cases between 2003 and 2005

Primary Care Trust, Cases in 2003 --- 2005

BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN PCT, 20-39.9 --- 40+

COVENTRY TEACHING PCT, <20 --- 20-39.9

HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM PCT, 20-39.9 --- 40+

LEWISHAM PCT, 20-39.9 --- 40+

OLDHAM PCT, <20 --- 20-39.9

PETERBOROUGH PCT, <20 --- 20-39.9

SANDWELL PCT, 20-39.9 --- 40+

SOUTHWARK PCT, 20-39.9 --- 40+

SUTTON AND MERTON PCT, <20 --- 20-39.9

WANDSWORTH PCT, 20-39.9 --- 40+

Decrease in cases between 2003 and 2005

Primary Care Trust, Cases in 2003 --- 2005

DERBY CITY PCT, 20-39.9 --- <20

SOUTH BIRMINGHAM PCT, 20-39.9 --- <20

WALSALL TEACHING PCT, 20-39.9 --- <20

WESTMINSTER PCT, 40+ --- 20-39.9

I'll just let these figures speak for themselves.

Edited by Bebi
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theres one thing i dont understand they give u a polio booster when ure 13/14 yrs old polio has been eradicated in the uk and the whole western hemersfere yet tb is a world wide growing problem with over 7000 cases a year in the uk and rising cases have been reported.

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hi just to say im having my polio vaccine next monday not thusday i will ask about this issue then.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Where did this come from? not on the news.

There not stopping it you know until 2039.

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