TUBERCULOSIS is back -- that's the message from Bolton MP Brian Iddon after a rise in TB cases in the town.

The Labour MP claims an increase in worldwide travel is causing the escalating figures -- with Bolton's TB cases rising 20 times faster than anywhere else in the country.

Dr Iddon said: "There is a very virulent strain of TB which causes problems because it is resistant to drugs.

"Pharmacists are carrying out emergency research into what drugs are best effective.

"But one of the reasons for the increase is more worldwide travel by Bolton people visiting countries like India. It is a complex problem."

His comments come as the Royal Bolton Hospital investigate one of their own eye unit doctors who is suspected of having the disease.

The junior doctor has been cleared of being infectious and a mass screening programme was not needed.

Highest

Last year, 79 people contracted the disease in the borough, the highest figure in the town for four years. New figures show the country is experiencing its highest outbreak of the disease for 15 years, according to the British Thoracic Society.

They have been calling for more specialised staff to be sent to hot spot areas such as Bolton.

Hundreds of teenagers are also to be targeted in the town and are scheduled to have a TB jab within the next month to prevent the figures rising further.

Bolton's Consultant in Communicable Diseases, Dr Robert Aston, has slammed the government's decision not to release vaccine in recent years in the town.

Although Dr Aston stressed that people who were directly affected by TB have been given a dose of the sought-after vaccine, schools had missed out on the inoculation programme for years.

Dr Brian Iddon also re-iterated that TB was rising due to the town's large number of unfit houses -- with 5,000 irredeemably unfit for human inhabitation.

Dr Iddon said: "TB is definitely back -- that's the most important message here. We have to act now."