Despite progress, tuberculosis persists in West European cities

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Despite progress, tuberculosis persists in West European cities

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Tuberculosis is becoming concentrated among immigrants, drug addicts, and the poor and homeless in Western Europe's big cities despite progress in reducing national rates of the disease, experts said on Friday. The contagious lung infection, once known as the "white plague" for its ability to render its victims pale, skinny and feverish, is being well tackled at national levels, they said, but is persisting in high-risk, marginalized groups. In a study of European Union (EU) cities with populations of more than 500,000, the researchers found that on average the rate of tuberculosis (TB) in big cities was twice the rate of the national TB incidence. In Britain, data from the government's health agency, Public Health England (PHE) show that more than 8,750 TB cases were reported 2012, and 3,426 of them - or 40 percent of the national total - were in London.

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