Tuberculosis in migrant processing centre

[surreysarah]

I was rather alarmed to read this bit about tuberculosis at a migrant processing centre in Essex:

We were also shown the NHS medical facility within the site, with doctors and nurses available to residents.
A number of arrivals, we were told, had active tuberculosis and that up to 20 per cent have been diagnosed with latent TB.
That distinction matters. Latent TB is not infectious in the way active pulmonary TB can be. But for one in five residents to be carrying latent TB is certainly something the public is entitled to know about.
In addition, some people arrive suffering from scabies, something the medical staff take extremely seriously because of how readily it can spread in communal accommodation.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16076797/asylum-centre-holiday-camp-Wethersfield-former-RAF-base.html

Should we worry that TB and scabies could spread into the wider community, or is it easily treated/containable?

Your BCG may no longer be protecting you. It is not a 'for life' vaccine.

When my older dc were born we lived in a borough with very high rate of TB. I gave birth at a hospital in the neighbouring borough. Had they been born in-borough they would have been offered the BCG on the day they were born. As it is, they were given BCG at 6m, once they had finished the regular set of imms. I would not have used creches or to nursery otherwise.

Its not just TB. Admittedly diphtheria numbers are down on what they were 4yrs ago and if you are vaccinated you should be fine, but its still around in some communities.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/diphtheria-cases-among-asylum-seekers-in-england-2022-to-2026/diphtheria-cases-among-asylum-seekers-in-england-2022

I’m just pleased these people are taken to a centre which has good medical facilities so they can be given medical checks and any relevant treatments.

All those moaning about the fact they have Drs at these centres need to give their head a wobble.

1. They said Europe, not the world.
2. It was published in 2018. Who was PM then?
3. This article from 2015 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/27/tb-rates-in-parts-of-london-worse-than-iraq-eritrea-and-rwanda was published when a future PM was Mayor of London. If the rates were higher than those countries, who was it? Helpfully, it says 'Prisoners, refugees, migrants, people with substance abuse issues and homeless people were found to be most at risk of the disease.'. So a combination. And being at risk does not mean being the source.
4. The writer of the 2018 piece doesn't mention that she was born in Malawi and went to boarding school in the UK. Or that she was unvaccinated (hence finding latent TB during a Rheumatology order chest x-ray like the one I had and is specifically done because there is an estimated rate of 3-5% of UK born adults aged over 60 - in part attributable to unpasturised dairy and the development of the BCG programme - along with people refusing vaccinations, much like now).

Alarmed? Why? These people come from counties with horrendous sanitation?

82% of people diagnosed with TB born abroad

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-in-england-2025-report/tb-infographics-2025-data-to-end-2024-text-version

That's not the same thing as the majority of
cases being found in asylum seekers though.

Actually, if you stop and think about it for a moment the vast majority of cases found being from those who were born abroad (and therefore more likely to have contracted it abroad) is a very good thing. Ideally we want that percentage to be as high as possible.

Not when it takes a month to get a doctor's appointment like my practice.

That's why having on site facilities is good. It means they aren't signing on to your GP.

To be fair there is also TB in one of my local care homes but I doubt people will be up in arms by that.

Like on a bus, or a tube.

I doubt your care home people are out there delivering food and hanging round playgrounds.

It costs a lot of money and uses NHS resources.

The HIV stats make for sobering reading too.

Good luck with restrictions and possible lockdowns then i dont think the public would comply

Well that’s all the anti-vaxxers fucked. Weirdly they are also the people who welcome unregulated dingy crossings. There’s a Venn diagram in there somewhere.

Historically that’s been proven inaccurate. Mumsnet was VERY keen to comply from memory.

Im not talking about Covid Im talking about if it happens again MN were very keen to comply while key workers risked their lives and yet what did i encounter on here yesterday?? That the child free shouldnt get SH flats even if they are in low paid work. After Covid it was back to the default setting just as i predicted at the time. And the Covid compliance was before the public found out about Partygate So like i said good luck if its needed again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly7z8ey088owww.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly7z8ey088o

It's not as simple as that though unfortunately. The resources need to come from somewhere.

If it’s needed again and people are told to stay in their houses to protect the lives of their children they will stay in their houses.

Do you think the child free will do that for MNers after being told they shouldnt be living in SH

I was vaccinated at school, but a few years later a mantoux test prior to work showed It had not conferred antibodies so I was given another jab. Vaccinations are not infallible, their effect is time limited hence boosters.
They are a prophylactic, as is quarantine, as is deterring spitting in public. I understand that was a big concern in recent years.

And through spitting

Spitting on pavements is making a big cone back im 50s and remember the campaihn to stop spitting

Unfortunately I’ll probably be in work again like I was the last time so I’ll be too busy to care what anyone else is doing.