Russia sees sharp rise in TB

About 2.2 million people are ill with tuberculosis in Russia and the disease is steadily spreading, a health official said yesterday.

Last year alone, 24,700 people died of tuberculosis and 98,000 people were recorded as having contracted the disease. The main source of infection in Russia is its overcrowded, disease-ridden prisons, where the infection rate has skyrocketed. Overall, the number of TB cases has risen nearly 4 per cent in the past year.