In Denmark, it is mainly the migrants who become infected with lungesygdommen tuberculosis.
this was stated by The Statens Serum Institut (SSI) in a new study, the institute has participated in. They may conclude that it is mainly social vulnerable families and grønlandskfødte men who are affected by the disease.
Thus, each year registered 300-400 cases in Denmark, where two thirds are persons who are born in countries where tuberculosis is much more widespread than in Denmark.
- When we look at tuberculosis-the bacteria's dna, we can see that most are infected in their home country before they come here to the country.
Studies of the bacteria's dna also shows, that only happens to a very small spread between the migrants and people born in this country, says professor Troels Lillebæk from SSI's Department for Tuberculosis and the Mycobacteria in a press release.
One of the explanations for the high number of infected among the refugees believe the professor should be found in the way in which they have come to Denmark.
- Refugees encounter dangerous travel conditions, cramped housing conditions with a risk of infection and lack of health care during the flight.
- After that they have come to Denmark to language, cultural differences and lack of knowledge about the Danish health care system pose potential barriers to access to healthcare, says Troels Lillebæk.
Refugees and family reunifications to refugees has, according to the new study, 40-60 times higher risk of being infected with tuberculosis than people from Denmark.
the Study is based on data from 150,000 migrants and 850.000 Danish-born persons over the period from 1993 to 2015.
