Health chiefs have drawn up new plans to tackle tuberculous (TB) in the north-east and will reintroduce infant vaccinations against the deadly disease.
The joint health protection plan for 2018-20 is a wide-ranging strategy between NHS Grampian and Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Moray councils.
Under the plan, it notes specific risks to health including flu pandemics, gastrointestinal illness and blood-borne viruses – some of which carry a heightened risk in rural areas due to people using private water supplies.
But a section on TB, once a major killer in Britain, said that vulnerable people like the homeless and alcoholics are in need of increasing support from services.
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The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which prevents TB, was given until 2016 at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.
However due to staffing shortages the injections were stopped.
The report reads: “Over the last five years the overall the number of cases of TB in Scotland has decreased with 35 Grampian residents diagnosed with TB in 2017.
“However more cases are requiring enhanced case management due to complications in managing their care and treatment caused by homelessness, no entitlement to benefits and alcohol and/or drug abuse.
“TB continues to be a potentially life-threatening infection requiring several months of complex antibiotic treatment to achieve a cure, so this level of infection in the community remains a cause of concern.
“Considerable ongoing public health effort is needed to reduce the risk of transmission of this infection within Grampian.
“An area of local concern is the recent reduction in uptake of BCG vaccination immediately following birth in infants assessed as being at increased risk of exposure to TB infection.
“This has resulted from the cessation in August 2016 of administration of BCG vaccination within Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, due to staffing pressures. “Work is ongoing to identify a robust and sustainable approach to delivery of BCG vaccination of babies at risk and it is hoped to reinstate this service within Aberdeen Maternity Hospital during 2018-19.”
