The fight against it has hit a plateau, however: Roughly 1,500
new cases have been diagnosed each year for the last 21/2 decades
among Singaporeans and permanent residents.
Last year, 1,478 new cases cropped up among these two groups, 36
more than the year before.
Foreigners studying or working here added 550 cases last year,
up from 524 in 2009.
Healthy people are unlikely to catch it from casual contact, but
make no mistake about it - the illness can spread if one is exposed
to it daily.
So if an individual comes down with it, his family members are
most at risk. In one family here, for instance, seven of its 13
members have the disease, which spreads through droplets expelled
when a TB patient talks, coughs or sneezes. Symptoms include
prolonged cough, fever, night sweats, unexplained loss of weight
and appetite, and tiredness.
