BNP chief blames immigrants for TB

A racist who blames TB on immigrants gets...TB

A BNP leader revealed yesterday he has TB - and tried to blame it on immigrants. Richard Barnbrook told the Mirror he was "furious" that he had the disease. Misinformed Barnbrook, 46, ranted: "Yes I have got TB. Immigration has caused this."

But his blast is incorrect racist propaganda. Experts say tuberculosis was common in Britain until the 50s but contrary to Barnbrook's claim was NEVER eradicated and never dropped below 5,000 cases a year, despite the discovery of a cure.

Barnbrook admitted he could have contracted it on holiday in Turkey - then wrongly claimed: "We eradicated this country of TB donkeys' years ago - we should never have allowed it back." He raged: "I am angry that I have picked up this junk. This disease should not have come into our country. Immigration has caused this massive TB problem ...They have bought in this disease."

Former art teacher Barnbrook, of Barking, East London, is the British National Party's leader for London and candidate for mayor. He was diagnosed this week after tests. He admitted: "I went on holiday in Turkey last summer and there is a chance I could have got it there but it is just as likely I got it in Barking."

Barnbrook added: "It is not infectious and it is a milder form. I am not going to die."

Paul Sommerfeld, of the charity TB Alert, said it was a "myth" to blame immigrants. It had more to do with poverty and living conditions than country of origin. He said: "It is clear TB is endemic to the UK. Blaming immigrants is a bit of a myth. One of the biggest issues is the distinction between infection and active disease - many more people are infected than develop it because it is dealt with by their immune system. When their immune system is lowered they get the active disease - and that could be 50 years later."

"They could have actually become infected in the 40s or 50s when the disease was very, very common. The majority of recent immigrants who get TB tend to have been here upwards of two years. That suggests they did not have raging TB when they arrived but it is the conditions in Britain which led them to develop it. They could be living in poor, overcrowded conditions where their chances of catching TB are much higher. It is a disease of the poor rather than a disease of immigrants."

TB: THE FACTS

• Tuberculosis was NEVER wiped out in Britain, despite doctors finding an antibiotics cure more than 50 years ago.
  
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• Cases here have never fallen below 5,000 a year. Half of all TB diagnosed is in British people that were born in the UK.
  
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• The illness is more common in poverty-stricken areas, where people have lower immunity and live in overcrowded houses.
  
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• Most immigrants with TB tend to have already lived here for two years and contract it due to stress and poor living conditions.
  
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• The failure to eradicate TB has been blamed on complacency, poverty and globalisation.
  
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• Many more people are infected than develop TB. Some cases may even have been infected in the 50s but develop it now because of a low immune system.
  

Mirror