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TB Soaring For London Teenagers
By Nicole Martin
The Telegraph - London
3-25-2

The number of children diagnosed with tuberculosis in London has more than doubled in 10 years, says a study published today.
 
Cases of the lung disease in those aged 16 and under rose by 130 per cent between 1988 and 1998, reaching 231 four years ago.
 
Researchers said the rise was associated with children coming to London from countries where TB is widespread. Almost half of children diagnosed were born abroad, with most developing TB within five years of arriving in Britain.
 
In 1998, more than four in 10 children with the disease were black African, while one in five was from the Indian Subcontinent, according to a study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
 
"The high proportion of those born abroad emphasises the importance of BCG immunisations for children in immigrant families to protect against severe forms of the disease," said Dr Philip Atkinson, of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre in London, who led the study.


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