Haringey has the fifth highest number of tuberculosis cases in London according to recent figures.

Since 1987, cases of the disease in the borough have increased from 44 per year to 158 in the year 2000, prompting concern from Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Health Authority.

The authority is now planning to spend more than £312,000 on improving resources needed to control the problem.

It hopes to secure the funds soon and is currently in talks with local primary care trusts to set up a TB network involving the employment of an extra physician and more TB nursing staff.

The diverse and mobile population of London and the surge of immigrants into the area combined with wide areas of deprivation play a key part spreading the disease.

The human strain of TB is usually caught by breathing in visible droplets of moisture coughed or sneezed out by an infected person.

The disease is curable by drug therapy but is difficult to tackle as it affects hard to reach groups including the homeless, drug abusers and those with HIV.

Michelle DiLeo from the British Lung Foundation said: "TB is still one of the biggest killers in the world. The government thought we had beaten the problem and stopped a mass vaccination programme in Britain during the 70s but we are now paying the price.

The emphasis now needs to be on the development of a modern vaccine.The BCG vaccine is about 100 years -old and is only 40 to 80 per cent effective."

November 26, 2001 12:00