13 July 2013| last updated at 12:55AM
TAWAU: More awareness programmes need to be held as the number of tuberculosis cases here is on the rise in the past four years.
Unless more preventive measures are taken such as creating greater awareness among the public, it may continue to rise this year, said Sabah Anti Tuberculosis Association (Sabata) chairman Francis Clement.
"The Tuberculosis Control Centre of the Tawau Hospital has recorded 290 cases involving 11 deaths as of June," he said after Sabata's annual general meeting here.
"Last year, there were 500 cases, 424 in 2011 and 406 in 2010," Clement said, adding that 70 people had died from it in the last three years.
"The disease spreads daily in urban and rural areas. HIV patients are vulnerable to it. We need to reach out to them."
Sabata is a non-profit organisation that works towards the eradication of tuberculosis.
"Sabata is relevant and I hope its committee would work as a team and do their best."
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