Take action against TB symptoms

HEALTH chiefs are urging anyone with symptoms of tubercolosis to seek urgent medical advice — and stick to the treatment.

The warning comes from the Health Protection Agency, which says lengthy treatment should be completed, even if patients start to feel better after a few weeks.

Last year, there were 42 cases of TB in Oldham, the same as in 2006.

Alan Higgins, director of public health for Oldham, said that anyone with the symptoms should see a doctor immediately.

“The earlier it is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat,” he said.

TB is a disease caused by a germ usually spread in the air, and caught when someone who has TB of the lungs coughs or sneezes.

People are only at risk if they have close and prolonged contact with someone who is infected, and because it develops slowly, it takes several months for symptoms to appear.

Symptoms include fever and night sweats, a persistent cough, weight loss and blood in the phlegm or spit.

Mr Higgins stressed that TB is almost always fully curable, but poses a greater chance of serious lung damage and can even be fatal if left untreated for too long.

And he said it was important for people to stick to the full course of treatment, which could span several months, to prevent a return of the infection in a form which could be much more difficult to deal with.

His advice echoes that of the Health Protection Agency, which says 8,417 cases of TB were reported in the UK in 2007 — down by 1 per cent on 2006, but a marked rise on the 6,726 cases reported in 2000.

The North-West saw 743 cases in 2007 — little change from the 727 in 2006, and the 758 in 2005.

The problem is much greater in Manchester city centre, however, where the TB rate is now 41 cases per 100,000 of population, compared with an England average of 15 and a North-West average of 11 per 100,000.

A total of 187 cases were reported in Manchester in 2007, compared with 171 in 2006.

Despite the nation’s TB rates being fairly stable, they are the highest since the late 1980s, and are particularly high in inner cities.

The majority of cases are among those aged between 15 and 44, with the largest proportion (39 per cent) in the London region.