HEALTH chiefs will double the amount of babies immunised against tuberculosis (TB) after new figures revealed it has risen by 25 per cent in a year.

Statistics published in Greenwich Primary Care Trust's (PCT) Annual Public Health Report for 2005-6 reveal 91 people contracted TB in 2004 compared to 73 in 2003.

Health experts say the influx is due to increased migration to the borough and a "dramatic increase" in birth rates which has soared from 3,200 births in 1999 to 4,000 births last year.

Africans and those from the Indian sub continent have been identified as the most "at risk" groups representing around 70 per cent of TB cases in 2004.

Over the next year, medics plan to increase BCG vaccines administered to newborns from its current rate of around 1,000 a year to more than 2,000.

Consultant in public health Dr Tim Dyke from the PCT helped write the report and issued a stark warning.

He said: "The basic message is, TB is making a comeback.

"Our plan is to target those most at risk, which are the ethnic minorities, with BCG vaccines.

"While white people have much less of a chance of picking up the infection, those from ethnic minorities are more at risk, especially those born in Africa where TB rates are high."

The news comes just months after the universal schools programme, which routinely inoculates 11 to 12-year-olds against TB, was scrapped in favour of targeting at-risk groups.

INFECTION IN THE BOROUGH

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious bacterial infection which can be passed on by prolonged exposure to somebody who carries it.

In young children it can sometimes develop into TB Meningitis and can be potentially fatal.

Over the past five years around five children aged under 12 in Greenwich have died from the deadly strain.

It sees the TB enter the bloodstream before it infects the brain, causing it to swell, leading to brain damage or even death.

Hot spots in the borough were identified as Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common which accounted for around a third of the 91 TB cases in 2004.