Teenagers not innoculated against TB anymore?

[ICEQUEEN20]

My 13 year old daughter has come home with a letter saying the jab against TB is not being given anymore as Tuberculosis is now quite rare ..... surely it is rare because people have been innoculated against for years? Is this just another NHS money-saving tactic... I am quite shocked, as I really hope these nasty diseases dont come back because people are not being immunised against them as they are "rare".

[Panic Button]

Yes, but if inoculation virtually eradicates it from the population, then there is no one to catch it off.

[Huderon]

Perhaps this extract from the TB alert site will help set your mind at ease about it

How is TB spread?

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease. Only people with TB in the lungs (called Pulmonary TB) can spread the disease. They can cough up the bacteria and another person can breathe it in. A bit like a cold is caught, but not as easily. To get TB, you usually need to have very close, daily contact with someone who has the disease. Most people get it from a family member, friend, partner, or co-worker. You're not likely to get TB from someone coughing on the bus or at a restaurant. It is not spread by dishes, drinking glasses, sheets or mattresses.

TB can also be caught by drinking milk from cows with Bovine TB, which is one of the reasons why milk in developed countries is pasteurised to kill the bacteria.

[Huderon]

Oh and if you want to read the full FAQ, it's at http://www.tbalert.org/general/faq.php

[chrissa1]

My father caught TB during the 50's and I was the only one to catch it from him albeit in a secondary form. He was sent to a sanitorium for about 3 or 4 months. I was treated with the then, "miracle" drug Streptomycin. I remember it as a foul tasting powder that was mixed with water and to this day I can't stand the taste of Ribena as my Mum used to give it to me after I'd taken the stuff.
I thought it had not been totally eradicated and so innoculation was still going on. I didn't have to have the jab, a fact I remember gleefully telling my friends at school at the time.

[ABerrant]

The UK introduced the BCG vaccination programme for schoolchildren in the 1950s and has seen annual TB infection rates drop from 50,000 to around 6,000 in the early 1990s, with a steady slow increase through to the present day.

This BCG programme was suspended across the UK in September 1999 after supplies of the vaccine ran out. The programme resumed in 2001, although an estimated 3 million teenagers missed out on the jab. Funnily enough incident rates of TB increased through to 2005 and beyond, that being the year when the rate jumped by 10% and the Government decided the programme would come to an end.

The greatest threat for the increase in TB within the UK is immigration. Even ignoring migration, it is not sufficient, even if 100% of indigenous UK population have been innoculated to not also innoculate the next generation of children when people are able to travel between countries.

[daffy654]

A friend of a friend is currently in hospital with TB.He hasn't travelled outside the UK (ever) so must have caught it here....therefore it is not eradicated from our population.
There have been regular outbreaks of the disease in recent years,I remember one in Leicester a few years ago.

[Sandy-Wroe]

TB was practically eradicated here. Fresh outbreaks are caused by people coming from poor, Third-World, countries. I think it's still rife in India and Pakistan.
Do you remember a while back Tony Blair refused to say if his smallest child had been inoculated against MMR?
I wonder do the rich pay to have their children protected against TB?

[Sqad]

Panic Button..TB has NEVER been eradicated, in fact the incidence is rising in the UK due to immigrants.

chrissa...Streptomycin was indeed the miracle drug in the late 40's and was given as an injection, the other anti-TB drugs were I.N.A.H and P.A.S. and it was the P.A.S that had a terrible taste, liquid P.A.S in particular.

IceQueen...to me, it is a retrograde step by the Government.....almost certainly, cost cutting.

[Cathyhuns]

The decision on whether to innoculate is a balance between the likelihood of getting the disease in the first place, how easily it can be cured against the risks of side effects from the innoculation and the effectiveness of the innoculation in providing immunity.

This has probably now tipped towards not being worth the innoculation.

[ICEQUEEN20]

I agree squad, it has not been eradicated as one of my friends (in her 30's) had it last year and was very ill with it. That is why I am quite concerned. I may speak to my doctor and hopefully get my daughter immunised, even if I have to go private to have it done. Thanks.

[chrissa1]

Well I never Sqad. You learn something new every day. I was only 9 at the time but always thought it was Strep I had been given. It did taste foul though, I remember that, and mine came in white round capsules that the powder had to be poured from and mixed with water. Cheers.

[Sqad]

chris....it was almost PASINAH, which came in cachets that you would either slide down in one or open and pour the contents into milk or whatever.

The really worst taste was liquid P.A.S.........we were made to taste it as students and believe me it was the worst taste EVER.