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Japan has declared a tuberculosis emergency after it was revealed that the
country has the highest incidence of the disease among the nations of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to the WHO, in
1997 the number of sufferers in Japan reached 33.6 cases per 100 000—more
than three times the rate in Britain. One reason for the high rate is that Japan
has a large number of elderly people with weaker immune systems.