The number of cases of tuberculosis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose by nearly 11 per cent last year.

It was the largest increase since 1999, with the Health Protection Agency recording 8,113 cases during the year, compared with 7,321 in 2004.

The agency said that levels of TB — which kills 300 to 400 people in Britain each year — have been rising steadily across the country since the late 1980s. Almost two thirds of those who develop the disease are born abroad, in countries where TB is endemic. But it is impossible to say if they arrive here infected with endemic TB, acquire it in Britain from compatriots or catch it on visits to their countries of birth.

John Watson, the head of the agency’s respiratory diseases department, said that the highest proportion of cases was among people from Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic backgrounds. Levels of TB in the British-born population remained stable.

London is the main TB centre, with 43 per cent, or 3,479, of the cases recorded last year. But the North West, East Midlands and the East of England recorded the biggest proportional increases.

Only 22 per cent of those of non-UK origin in whom the disease was diagnosed in 2005 had arrived in Britain during the previous two years, Dr Watson said. “This suggests that the increase is not a result of a large number of individuals arriving recently with TB but rather a combination of

TB disease developing in individuals who may have been infected for some time and new infections acquired in the UK, or as a result of travel to other countries where TB is common.”

The disease is caused by a bacterium mostly spread in the air through coughing and sneezing. It usually affects the lungs.

The regions with the highest proportion of new cases last year were the North West (588 in 2004 to 757 in 2005), the East Midlands (443 to 556) and the East of England (395 to 483). The North East and Northern Ireland experienced a decrease.

Peter Borriello, the director of the Centre for Infections, said: “An increase of this magnitude over the course of one year is a concern and, as a result, we will be monitoring the situation closely over the next few years. TB disease is a preventable and treatable condition. The key to reducing levels is through early diagnosis and treatment of the infection.”

John Moore-Gillon, the chairman of the British Thoracic Society joint TB committee and president of the British Lung Foundation, said that the 19th-century disease was now an increasing threat. “These figures are alarming and the situation is now very urgent,” he said. “We need to confront the problem of TB now and ensure that enough resources are made available to tackle the increasing burden of TB in Britain.

“At present, we have areas of the country where TB is especially common, but where TB specialist nurse posts are being left vacant or downgraded to save money. We need innovative local approaches that increase, not lessen, access to TB services, including taking treatment to the patient.”

Paul Sommerfeld, the chairman of the charity TB Alert, said that efforts had been stepped up to deal with TB but that it was a “particularly worrying time, given the occurrence worldwide of extensively drug-resistant strains”.

TB is treated with special types of antibiotics that have to be taken for months at a time.

The Government said yesterday that people from Bangladesh, Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand wishing to come to Britain were screened for TB under the Home Office programme. “Screening generates data on infectious TB among travellers to the UK, helping us to understand better, and respond more effectively to, the role of migration in TB in the UK,” a spokesman said.

“Applicants benefit from health screening and treatment and host countries benefit from the earlier detection of individuals with disease.”

However, Health Protection Agency experts gave warning that such screening is at present capable of indentifying only those with active disease. Carriers with no symptoms, of whom there are many more, will go undetected until new tests are ready.

Caroline Flint, the Public Health Minister, said that TB was a global problem that could not be solved by countries in isolation.

She said that the World Health Organisation estimated that a third of the world’s population was infected with TB and that it had developed a global strategy to tackle the problem.

“We cannot be complacent about this issue,” she said. “There are no short-term solutions to tackling TB. This will need long-term, concerted action.”

Times Recommends

• An officer and a gentle woman
• Dame Helen Mirren is worthy of the Epidaurus
• Foods that can help to prevent swine flu