Staff writer

While alcoholism and tuberculosis are familiar maladies in Tokyo's Sanya district, the latter has become the cause of particular concern for health officials as a high frequency of TB among its homeless has been reported in recent years.

According to Johoku Welfare Center, the ratio of TB cases to the population in fiscal 1998 in Taito Ward, which covers part of the district, was 1.31-to-1,000. This is 3.6 times higher than the national average. The ratio among Sanya homeless could be several dozen times worse than the national average, a center official estimates.