Bradford suffers three times the national average of tuberculosis, it was revealed today.

This year there were 151 cases of the lung disease among the district's 450,000 residents - 33 cases per 100,000 people.

Latest national figures show an average 10.9 cases per 100,000 in 1998. In 1988 it was 9.4. A new report today says incidence of the disease - a feared killer in Victorian times - is soaring.

London is at the centre of the spiralling outbreaks, with the number of cases in the capital up a third since 1993. Other findings show that six out of 10 health districts with high rates of TB have inadequate numbers of trained nurses to deal with the disease.

Last year there were 5,658 TB cases in England and Wales, compared with 4,659 ten years earlier.

The highest proportion of cases are among people of white, Indian-sub continent and black African origin.

More than half occur in people born outside the UK, of whom four in 10 have arrived in the previous five years. Research has shown TB risk is higher in the homeless, individuals in deprived situations and people with HIV.

Dr Peter Ormerod, of Blackburn Royal Infirmary, surveyed 43 health districts with the highest TB rates to see whether they met minimum standards for staff to help treat and monitor the disease.

Only 14 per cent of the districts surveyed matched up to the requirements, which call for one TB nurse or health visitor and full clerical support for every 50 cases seen in a year.

Dr Ormerod said: "TB is not a disease of the history books. It is vitally important that we continue to invest in measures to combat the disease, especially in areas of high incidence. This survey suggests we are dropping our guard and we must address this."

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