Plan to keep tuberculosis at bay in Scotland

Published on Monday 23 March 2009 21:05

EXPERTS are drawing up a plan to protect Scotland from tuberculosis, with details to be announced today.

The programme will be completed by the end of the year and will focus on issues like TB surveillance and screening.

The move was announced on World TB Day by Shona Robison, the public health minister, who said: "Tuberculosis is a serious disease which, although now thankfully rare, still exists in 21st-century Scotland.

"Scotland has a proud history of treating TB and we have a duty to build on that legacy to make sure we prevent the disease from spreading and provide effective treatment to sufferers to allow them to return to health."

The plan will bring experts together to ensure the best systems are in place to help sufferers and protect the public.

Scotland has around 400 cases of TB a year, or 7.9 cases per 100,000 population – fewer than the rest of the UK and many other European countries, and well within the World Health Organisation target of ten cases per 100,000.

The disease was a major killer in Scotland until the 1950s, encouraged by conditions in damp and crowded tenements.