Health officials in Britain say they are dealing with the country's first case of a rare strain of tuberculosis (TB) which is almost untreatable.
A man is currently in isolation at Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow and while doctors say there's no risk to the general public, they are screening those who came into close contacts with him in order to ensure that any further cases are identified early and promptly treated.
The man is thought to be a Somali asylum-seeker in his thirties and has the rare strain of extremely drug resistant TB (XDR-TB), which proves fatal in half of all cases.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that XDR-TB accounts for possibly only 2 per cent of the 9 million cases of tuberculosis in the world, but is nevertheless a grave public health threat, especially in populations with high rates of HIV and where there are few healthcare resources.
XDR-TB is a problem in South Africa and Russia and the former Soviet countries of Eastern Europe; last month, the WHO reported the highest-ever rates of drug-resistant TB.
Experts say XDR-TB is no more infectious than ordinary TB but it does require different treatment.
The man arrived at Heathrow last November and was admitted to hospital at the end of January but was unable to provide information about his condition; the TB was found when routine screening for infectious diseases revealed scarring on his lungs.
At the time the TB was inactive and he then told doctors he had recently had a six-month course of treatment for TB.