Disease rampant in NZ

Infectious disease rates in New Zealand are among the highest in the developed world, says a report.

The Institute of Environmental Science and Research report reveals that New Zealand's tuberculosis rate is the highest in the English-speaking world.

The country is also in the midst of a measles and whooping cough crisis and in its 10th year of a meningitis epidemic which has killed 142 of the 3066 people known to have become ill.

New Zealand has the highest rate of campylobacter in the world, with 244.5 cases per 100,000 people, compared with 96.7 in Australia, 44.7 in Canada and 100.5 in Britain. Cases of salmonella, giardia and cryptosporidium are also increasing.