Concern over region's TB rise

Around 1,000 cases of tuberculosis are still being reported in the West Midlands every year, the Express & Star can reveal.

Latest figures obtained through the Health Protection Agency show that Sandwell is the worst-hit area in the Black Country for the disease, with more than twice as many cases reported in the borough compared to both Dudley and Walsall.

The total number of cases in the West Midlands has risen slowly over the last three years, agency statistics show.

Between January and June 2008, 536 cases were reported, compared with 515 for the same period in 2007 and 474 in 2006.

In Sandwell, 62 cases were seen in the first six months of 2008, compared to 23 in Dudley, 28 in Walsall and 38 in Wolverhampton.

Another 473 patients were treated during the second half of 2006 and 413 from July to December 2007. No figures are available for July to December 2008

An average of nearly 300 cases a year have been reported by primary care trusts covering the four Black Country boroughs since 2006.

In 2006, there were 116 cases in Sandwell, 37 in Dudley, 52 in Walsall and 62 in Wolverhampton. In 2007, Sandwell saw 113 cases; Dudley 46, Walsall 62 and Wolverhampton 73.

Dr Ishraga Awad, of the Health Protection Agency, said cases in the Black Country were 9.5 per cent lower for the first half of 2008 compared to 2007, but there had been a four per cent rise in the West Midlands as a whole.

"While this is an encouraging observation for the Black Country, the West Midlands region still has the highest numbers of new diagnoses after London, and so efforts to control TB must be kept up," she said.

"We are working with the Strategic Health Authority to improve TB services in the region.

"TB is a preventable and curable condition but if left untreated it can be life threatening."

Last summer, Langley Primary School in Titford Road, Oldbury, was hit by an outbreak of TB, with 10 people needing treatment for the disease.