'Dormant' TB found in US population

It is unlikely that the US will eliminate TB by 2010, according to a recent survey.

A study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, has revealed that there continues to be high rates of latent (dormant) TB infection in certain sections of the population.

Of these, ten per cent will go onto to develop active TB, while only 25.5 per cent of people with latent TB have been previously diagnosed, reports Reuters.

Latent TB cannot be transmitted to others, and sufferers do not feel any symptoms.

A government-run programme in Uganda recently revealed that the number of cases of TB infection in the county was increasing.

The tuberculosis control assistance programme (TBCAP) of the Ministry of Health found that between 2001 and 2005, the number of recorded infections rose by 12 per cent, New Vision reported.

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