Rates of tuberculosis (TB) in the UK are continuing to rise, the latest figures released in a new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report show.

Compared with the previous year, the number of notifications of TB rose by 12.6%, with particularly high rates in areas such as Leicester and several parts of London, the report found.

Notifications of the disease increased across the UK with the exception of Scotland, which saw a particularly high jump in 2023.

But the UK is still classed as a low TB incidence country with an overall rate of 8.6 per 100,000 population, below the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of 10 per 100,000, the UKHSA report noted.

In England, the TB rate is currently 9.37 per 100,000 people after a 13.6% rise in notifications in 2024, the figures show.

For London as a whole the figure is 20.6 TB notifications per 100,000 population, while Leicester had the highest rate of any local authority at 42.1 notifications per 100,000 people.

The proportion of cases of multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant TB remained similar to the previous year at 2.1% of people, but it had increased compared with 2022 when it was 1.5%.

UKHSA officials also assessed progress against a WHO target of 90% reduction in TB between 2015 and 2035. To meet this goal a decade from now, the UK as a whole would need to reduce cases by 18.2% every year, they calculated.

TB remains serious public health issue in the UK

Last year the WHO raised the alarm about cases of TB unnecessarily soaring around the world after more than eight million people were newly diagnosed – the highest since figures began to be collected.

The fight against TB was a priority area at this year’s ESCMID Global congress, with experts sharing the latest research, consensus and progress.

Dr Esther Robinson, head of the TB Unit at UKHSA, said: ‘While England remains a low-incidence country for TB, we are concerned that TB cases are still continuing to increase.

‘TB is curable and preventable however as recent surveillance has shown, it remains a serious public health issue in England and across the UK.

‘With treatment, most people will make a full recovery. It is very important that those with relevant symptoms are tested for TB and appropriate treatment is started promptly, both for the individual and for the prevention of onward transmission.

‘We, alongside the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, are working hard to explore targeted action to tackle rising cases.’

Last month, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB launched a new inquiry into the increasing rates of TB in the UK. Its aim is to understand factors driving this rise and to develop clear, actionable recommendations for the Government by collecting professional and lived experiences of TB to identify gaps, highlight good practice and shape a coordinated, fully-funded TB strategy for England.

A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication Pulse.