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By Poon Chian Hui
TUBERCULOSIS rates have risen for a fifth successive year in Singapore after a slight hike in cases was reported for 2012.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday there were 1,560 new cases among residents last year, up from 1,533 in 2011.
Another 643 cases came from foreigners, up from 593 in 2011. Left untreated, about half of those with the disease would die in a few years' time.
The MOH, which released the figures following World TB Day on Sunday, said the upward trend is due to global travel coupled with continued transmission in the community.
Another cause is older residents who were exposed to the bacteria in the 1950s and 1960s, when TB was far more rampant - but some did not develop the full-blown disease until now as latent bacteria reactivated.
The MOH said the threat of a multi-drug resistant form of the disease "remains a serious public health challenge". This can come about when patients with regular TB default on their treatment, then spread the resistant type to others.
Eight such new cases - two of which were foreigners - were reported last year.
In the previous year, there were six.
This reflects the worldwide trend, with disease experts highlighting such harder-to-treat TB strains as a growing threat.
Instead of the standard six to nine months of antibiotic treatment, the drug-resistant form can take years to wipe out.
Professor Sonny Wang, who heads the TB Control Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said that such "progressive abuse" of medicine will lead to more and more resistant strains of TB until eventually an incurable form develops.
He added that the rising trend is "very worrying".
The last time the disease registered a drop was in 2006, when 1,256 new Singapore resident cases were reported. There was no change in numbers in 2007.
The MOH is currently reviewing the Singapore Tuberculosis Elimination Programme.
First set up in 1997, it covers the treatment and monitoring of TB patients here, as well as measures such as offering preventive therapy for contacts of TB sufferers with latent infections. The disease develops in only about 10 per cent of those infected.
Meanwhile, from next month the Health Promotion Board will distribute booklets on the disease to parents of pupils and teachers at 179 primary schools.
[email protected]
TUBERCULOSIS rates have risen for a fifth successive year in Singapore after a slight hike in cases was reported for 2012.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday there were 1,560 new cases among residents last year, up from 1,533 in 2011.
Another 643 cases came from foreigners, up from 593 in 2011. Left untreated, about half of those with the disease would die in a few years' time.
The MOH, which released the figures following World TB Day on Sunday, said the upward trend is due to global travel coupled with continued transmission in the community.
Another cause is older residents who were exposed to the bacteria in the 1950s and 1960s, when TB was far more rampant - but some did not develop the full-blown disease until now as latent bacteria reactivated.
The MOH said the threat of a multi-drug resistant form of the disease "remains a serious public health challenge". This can come about when patients with regular TB default on their treatment, then spread the resistant type to others.
Eight such new cases - two of which were foreigners - were reported last year.
In the previous year, there were six.
This reflects the worldwide trend, with disease experts highlighting such harder-to-treat TB strains as a growing threat.
Instead of the standard six to nine months of antibiotic treatment, the drug-resistant form can take years to wipe out.
Professor Sonny Wang, who heads the TB Control Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said that such "progressive abuse" of medicine will lead to more and more resistant strains of TB until eventually an incurable form develops.
He added that the rising trend is "very worrying".
The last time the disease registered a drop was in 2006, when 1,256 new Singapore resident cases were reported. There was no change in numbers in 2007.
The MOH is currently reviewing the Singapore Tuberculosis Elimination Programme.
First set up in 1997, it covers the treatment and monitoring of TB patients here, as well as measures such as offering preventive therapy for contacts of TB sufferers with latent infections. The disease develops in only about 10 per cent of those infected.
Meanwhile, from next month the Health Promotion Board will distribute booklets on the disease to parents of pupils and teachers at 179 primary schools.
[email protected]
