08:07 Tuesday 25th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
[P]AUL STAINTON: People in Chatteris say they’ve been kept in the dark over an outbreak of tuberculosis at two vegetable processing plants in the town. Health Protection England has sought to play down fears, after confirming 17 workers have been diagnosed with the deadly illness since 2012. But earlier Chatteris town councillor Florence Newell told us she was absolutely livid about the lack of information.
(TAPE)
FLORENCE NEWELL: This has been going on since 2012 in Chatteris, and neither the Town Council nor the District Council were informed. We should have known. If this has been going on since 2012, and they’re people that are working in factories in Chatteris, we should have known.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well we stopped routinely immunising children against tuberculosis in 2005, and according to the last recent figures there were 88 cases of TB in Cambridgeshire in 2011. There were a total of 521 across the whole region. But a lot of you are very unhappy this morning and very worried. Cases are on the increase. So are people in Chatteris right to be so concerned? Well Dr Estée Török is a consultant in infectious diseases at Addenbrookes Hospital. Morning.
ESTEE TOROK: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: First of all, why is TB on the increase?
ESTEE TOROK: Well, in the United Kingdom we have about nearly 9,000 cases of TB reported every year, and it has been gradually increasing over the last few years. The reason for that really is that most of the people who develop TB have been born abroad. And as you know we have more people who have been born abroad who are living in the United Kingdom than we used to. And so it may well be related to that.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s immigration that’s exacerbating the problem.
ESTEE TOROK: It may well be. Yes. So a lot of these people may have acquired TB in childhood when they lived at home, and then they’re obviously presenting in adulthood when they’re living and working in the United Kingdom.
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