Sir, I read with interest the Conservative Party proposal to introduce compulsory health tests for immigrants (report, February 16; see also letter, February 17).

For the past three years I have suffered with chronic tiredness and a constant cough. Two weeks ago I was finally diagnosed with active TB. I am a white middle-class female, aged 38, with a healthy diet and lifestyle. I have had no contact (knowingly) with anyone with TB. However, somewhere — on the Underground, at work or at leisure — I have contracted this disease.

I am now quarantined from work, friends and family and I face a treatment course of between six months and two years (and 13 antibiotics a day is no fun). The hospital views me as an object of curiosity: for many staff I am the only TB case they have ever seen.

My family, partner, friends and workmates are now undergoing screening because of my diagnosis. We would welcome the Conservative Party proposal to test immigrants. However, at least five GPs overlooked my diagnosis for three years. How many continue to be infected every day by people like me, unaware of the silent killer within them?

We need a firm and immediate course of action on compulsory health testing for immigrants.

Yours faithfully,
VANESSA FRISBEE,
39 Portland Street,
Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 4XF.
February 18.

Explore Letters

• Feedback