Tuberculosis Cases Rising in South Korea

Text of report by Kim Chung-soo, published in English by South Korean newspaper Chungang Ilbo web site on 24 March

24 March: Health officials expressed concerns yesterday over a rising number of tuberculosis cases in the country.

Tuberculosis cases have been decreasing since 2001, but increased last year, according to an Internet-based survey by the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the end of 2003, the National Health Organization estimated that 30,687 people developed tuberculosis. But a year later, it was reported that 31,503 people contracted the disease, a 2.7 per cent increase.

Senior citizens – those over 60 years old – accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the 2004 figure.

Compared to 2003, the number of senior patients increased by 7.7 per cent.

Officials said one reason for the increase was because the survey was distributed over the Internet this time.

“It gave easier access to people to report that they had the disease,” said an official from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

But he said they were worried that the actual number of patients could have really increased due to poor diets of low-income families in the bad economy.

“We have to wait and find an accurate cause of the sudden increase because the tuberculosis cases have been steadily dwindling,” he said.

Health experts estimate there are about 168,000 tuberculosis patients in Korea. According to 2002 calculations, there were 91 tuberculosis patients for every 100,000 people in the country.

In Japan, there were 33 patients in every 100,000. In France, there were 14 people sick with tuberculosis in every 100,000 people, while the number dropped to five per 100,000 people in the United States.

Tuberculosis accounted for 3,331 deaths in 2003 in Korea, making the disease the 11th most common cause of death.

The Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said it will enhance its prevention campaign to prevent the public from catching tuberculosis and fortify the nation’s vaccine production facilities.