Experts say tuberculosis is still a threat

TB is likely to become more prevalent in the UAE because of migration from countries where TB risk is higher.

ABU DHABI // The rate of tuberculosis infection is stable but there is potential for the disease to spread, an expert at the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress said yesterday. The steady migration of people from areas where TB rates are higher, such as India, China and sub-Saharan Africa, means the disease is likely to become more prevalent in the UAE, said Dr Luca Richeldi, director of a lung disease research centre in Italy.

Particular attention should be paid to the welfare of health care workers, he said. "With countless new hospitals and health care facilities being built in the UAE, the concern for the safety of health care workers should be given serious consideration." he said. "It is not enough for them to be screened once, as latent TB can be reactivated and become full-blown TB at any time after initial screening."

TB infection, whether in active or latent form, is re-emerging worldwide, experts at the conference said. It is the most prevalent infectious disease in the world, with more than one-third of people infected with its latent (inactive) form, Dr Richeldi said. "TB is re-emerging because of two factors: the high numbers of immunosuppressed people - such as those with HIV infection - around the world, and the increasing migration of people from high prevalence areas to those deemed as low prevalence areas," he said.

The World Heath Organisation has stated that the only way to eliminate TB by 2025 is to diagnose and treat all cases of latent infection, which tend to go undetected and then spread quickly through the population when reactivated. Although there have been few cases of tuberculosis in UAE, health officials fear an outbreak from undiagnosed patients with latent TB. The director of the TB combating unit at the Ministry of Health, Dr Juma Bilal, said the rate of the spread of the disease in the UAE is among the smallest in the region.

Quoting figures from a 2007 report, he said only 11 cases of TB of various types were reported per 100,000 citizens. UAE health authorities are looking at ways to increase the efficiency of their mass screening methods everyone who enters the country must undergo a test before being granted residency to detect latent TB infection. Also, they would like to reduce the waiting time for test results.