{"id":526362,"date":"2025-10-25T05:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/526362\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T05:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:43:12","slug":"worry-as-manchester-has-higher-rates-of-rising-victorian-superbug-than-seven-developing-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/526362\/","title":{"rendered":"Worry as Manchester has higher rates of rising Victorian superbug than seven developing nations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salford, Bolton and Oldham also all have a higher rate of the disease than developing nations – see how common infections are where you liveRichard Ault<\/strong> and Helena Vesty<\/strong><\/a> NHS, social care and patients reporter<\/p>\n

06:07, 25 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"Tuberculosis typically infects the lungs, causing a bad cough(Image: Shared Content Unit)<\/p>\n

Cases of a Victorian superbug are soaring – and Manchester now has a higher TB incidence rate than several developing nations including Armenia, Trinidad and Tobago, Iraq, and Mauritius.<\/p>\n

Figures released by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show there were 5,490 notifications of tuberculosis (TB) in England in 2024.<\/p>\n

That was a 13 per cent increase – or more than 600 additional cases – from 4,831 notifications in 2023, which was itself 11 per cent higher than in 2022.<\/p>\n

The proportion of drug-resistant TB reached its highest level since enhanced surveillance began in 2012. Of all laboratory-confirmed cases, 2.2 per cent showed resistance to multiple drugs.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

The UKHSA has already warned that if the trend of rising cases is not reversed, the UK could lose its \u201clow-incidence\u201d status for TB, which it has held since 2017.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies countries with a threshold of 10 TB cases per 100,000 people as low-incidence.<\/p>\n

England now has a rate of 9.4 notifications per 100,000 people, just below the low-incidence threshold and up from 8.5 per 100,000 people in 2023. However, that is still well below this century\u2019s peak of 15.6 notifications per 100,000 in 2011.<\/p>\n

However, in some parts of the nation, the rate is far higher – and four areas of Greater Manchester have a higher incidence rate above the low-incidence threshold.<\/p>\n

In the three years to 2024, Manchester had an annual average of 147 TB notifications. That equates to a rate of 25.3 TB notifications per 100,000 people, the ninth highest in England, and more than double the WHO low instance threshold.<\/p>\n

It is also higher than the latest published TB rates for Armenia (25.0), Bosnia and Herzegovina (24.0), Trinidad and Tobago, Iraq (21.0), Syrian Arab Republic (17.0), Mauritius (12.0), and Lebanon (10.0).<\/p>\n

The other areas of Greater Manchester with a TB notification rate above the low-incidence threshold are: Bolton<\/a> (16.9), Oldham<\/a> (14.9), and Salford<\/a> (11.3).<\/p>\n

You can see how it compares to where you live using our interactive map.<\/p>\n

Sixty-one local authority areas across England had a notification rate above the WHO low instance threshold, according to the latest numbers.<\/p>\n

TB notifications are a statutory requirement for GPs to report suspected or confirmed cases to the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System.<\/p>\n

What is TB?<\/p>\n

TB – which used to be known as \u201cconsumption\u201d – caused the deaths of an estimated four million people between 1851 and 1910 in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

It was the scourge of the 18th and 19th centuries and featured heavily in the literature of the time, with authors Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Samuel Richardson all referencing the disease.<\/p>\n

TB is a serious long-term condition, but it is now curable. It usually affects the lungs but can spread to other parts of the body, such as your glands, bones, and brain.<\/p>\n

Symptoms include a chronic cough, fever, chills, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, and coughing up blood.<\/p>\n

See a GP if you\u2019ve had a cough for more than three weeks if you\u2019re tired and not sure why, have a high temperature or night sweats that don\u2019t go away, or have lost weight without changing your diet or exercise routine, or if you\u2019ve spent a lot of time with someone who has TB.<\/p>\n

Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS<\/a> 111 if you cough up blood.<\/p>\n

Worldwide, TB killed an estimated 1.25 million people in 2023, making it the leading infectious disease killer in the world, surpassing Covid-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Final figures for 2024 are not yet available, but it is predicted that a similar number of people died of TB.<\/p>\n

Join our Family WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In England last year, 82 per cent of TB notifications were in people born outside the UK, but there was an increase in both UK-born and non UK-born populations.<\/p>\n

TB continues to be associated with deprivation, and the infection is more common in large urban areas.<\/p>\n

For those born in the UK, TB is more common among those who experience homelessness, drug and alcohol dependence and have had contact with the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

‘It remains a serious public health issue’<\/p>\n

Dr Esther Robinson, Head of the TB Unit at UKHSA, said: \u201cTB is preventable and curable but, with rates increasing, it remains a serious public health issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must act fast to break transmission chains through rapid identification and treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that not every persistent cough, along with a fever, is caused by flu or Covid-19. A cough that usually has mucus and lasts longer than 3 weeks can be caused by a range of other issues, including TB.<\/p>\n

“Please speak to your GP if you think you could be at risk \u2013 particularly if you have recently moved from a country where TB is more common.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Salford, Bolton and Oldham also all have a higher rate of the disease than developing nations – see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[279,748,393,4884,105,2465,1286,1290,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-526362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-bolton","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-oldham","15":"tag-salford","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115433216677099342","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}