Tuberculosis is once again on the increase in the UK, largely due to immigration. Highly infectious, the disease is spread by breathing in infected droplets exhaled when sufferers cough, speak or sneeze. First and foremost tuberculosis is a disease of the lungs but can spread to other organs and if left untreated is usually fatal.

The NHS no longer vaccinate against Tuberculosis except for high risk groups (this generally means health workers, those from deprived inner city areas and certain ethnic backgrounds where there is high incidence of TB in the country of origin).  The BCG can be given from birth upwards, a single vaccination is required.

Tuberculosis (or TB) is known principally as an infection of the lungs, but other parts of the body can be affected such as lymph nodes, kidneys and joints.

Symptoms of the disease include a persistent cough, night sweat, a slight fever and loss of weight - before the disease was identified and isolated in the 19th Century it was known as 'consumption' because those contracting it would 'waste away'.

TB is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is usually caught by inhaling sputum particles in the breath of anyone suffering from the disease, though it usually requires prolonged and close personal contact with an infected carrier to catch it.

Once inhaled, the TB bacterium can remain dormant in the body for months, sometimes years, but if the immune system is weakened it can multiply causing pneumonia (an infection in the lungs) and affect other organs.

A strong immune system can limit the effects of TB, eventually making the infection dormant. It can't remove it entirely though - this can only be done through a combination of medications.

To help protect individuals from catching TB the BCG (Bacille Calmette Guérin) vaccine is given. However, since it was created in the 1920s it has become less and less effective and is now perhaps 70% as effective as it used to be because more powerful strains of the TB bacillus are more prevalent then before.

It may surprise you to know that around TWO BILLION individuals - one-third of the population of Earth - currently suffer from the disease and there are over 8 million new cases reported each year.

In 19th Century Britain, nearly a quarter of the population would eventually die of Tuberculosis. Now, thanks to a better standard of living and routine vaccination since the 1940s, the number of known cases in the UK has been brought down to under 10,000, though this number is now rising.

Those most at risk include alcoholics, HIV-positives, immigrants and healthcare workers. Anyone living in hostels for the homeless or prisons is more likely to be exposed to the disease and therefore more likely to catch it.

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