Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

American philanthropist Bill Gates shows up for a photo call in support of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos earlier this year. Anja Niedringhaus/AP/Press Association Images

Worldwide fears over drug-resistant tuberculosis

As Ireland notes record-low levels of TB, global experts have warned of an untreatable strain emerging in a number of other countries.

ABOUT ONE PERSON per day was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in Ireland during 2012, according to the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

The 368 cases reported last year is the lowest notification rate since TB surveillance began in 1998. In the previous two years, 424 and 420 cases were treated.

During 1992, just as a global epidemic was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 604 cases were reported in Ireland. In the 1950s, about 7,000 cases of TB were notified annually.

The figures were released to mark World TB Day on Sunday and while there was welcome news in Ireland, experts across the globe had more worrying data.

A series of papers in the Lancet medical journal raised concerns about the emergence of a multi-drug-resistant strain of TB (MDR TB) and an even more concerning “extensively-drug-resistant TB” (XDR TB). Researchers believe that without “concerted action” from political leaders, health policy makers and funders, health systems worldwide are at risk of being “overwhelmed by increasing numbers of patients”.

“For many decades, the response to global tuberculosis by governments in both wealthy and disease-endemic countries has been complacent and politically neglectful. A major conceptual change and visionary global leadership are needed to move away from the conventional view that tuberculosis is only a disease of poor nations.”

The widespread emergence of XDR tuberculosis could lead to virtually untreatable tuberculosis.

“With ease of international travel, and increased rates of MDR tuberculosis in eastern Europe, central Asia, and elsewhere, the threat and range of the spread of untreatable tuberculosis is very real.”

In the UK, MDR TB nearly tripled in the first decade of the millennium, with a subsequent increase of 26 per cent in 2011. Six people were treated for XDR TB during the same year.

World TB Day

World TB Day commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced his discovery of the TB bacillus which caused tuberculosis.

In a statement to mark the day, United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon highlighted the fact that 1.4 million people die every year from TB, making it the deadliest infectious disease known to man.

Worldwide, about 630,000 are infected with MDR TB, inflicting new burdens on patients, families and health systems. He noted the new strains are a “major addition” to the health budget as they cost ten times more to treat. The form of the disease, which has affected more than 30 per cent of newly-diagnosed patients in parts of eastern Europe and central Asia, fails to response to two potent drugs isoniazid and rifampin.

On its website, the WHO says at least €1.2 billion is needed annually to prevent the spread of the disease.

Ireland 2013

Separately, Dr Kevin Kelleher of the HSE stressed the need for vigilance against the disease as cases of TB are still occurring in Ireland.

“It is important to be aware of the symptoms, which include fever and night sweats, cough (lasting for more than three weeks), weight loss and blood in the sputum at any time…

Anyone can get TB but those most at risk are people from countries with high incidence of TB, people with weakened immune systems due to disease or medication, people who have been in contact with a case of TB and those who for other reasons may be at high risk, for example, the homeless and intravenous drug users.”

Earlier this year, suspected outbreaks of TB were recorded in Dublin City University (DCU) and on Inis Oírr.

All residents on the smallest of the Aran Islands were offered testing in mid-February following a number of diagnoses.

More then 150 people were tested at DCU over the past six weeks after two non-contagious cases of the disease were confirmed. Those identified as being “in contact” with the infected received a letter from the Department of Public Health’s TB Unit. The HSE ensured there was “no risk to the public”, dispelling fears of an outbreak.

The most recent data from the HPSC shows that 81 cases of TB were confirmed in the first ten weeks of the year, a jump of 11 when compared to the same period of 2012.

Read: France to keep ‘death row’ elephants… and Brigitte Bardot

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
29 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Mc Carthy
    Favourite Mary Mc Carthy
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:17 PM

    Too little too late for thousands of women

    246
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 6:21 PM

    @Mary Mc Carthy: Of which I am one. Keep yelling. We need you.

    127
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Toner
    Favourite Joe Toner
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 10:57 PM

    @Mary Morrisey:
    Keep fighting Mary…. Behind you all the way.

    31
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 8:15 AM

    @Joe Toner: Very appreciated, Joe. My fight is almost over. The future of others is the concern.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Isabel Oliveira
    Favourite Isabel Oliveira
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:20 PM

    They can start by analysing samples in Ireland & by immediately re-initiating cervical screening , colon screenings , etc before more tragedy happens. Apologising and hollow promises are not good enough .

    141
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 6:29 PM

    @Isabel Oliveira: My first diagnosis was in the US ten years ago. My doctor took my swab and viewed it immediately. I was diagnosed then and there. No waiting. The under-training, bureaucracy and stupidity of a system that forgets the importance of compatibility of tech BEFORE signing a contract is inexcusable.

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 7:38 PM

    @Isabel Oliveira: Our scientists who were experienced and qualified to screen smears have retired or retrained in other disciplines. It takes years to become a competent screener. We don’t have the expertise anymore.

    14
    See 9 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 7:40 PM

    @Mary Morrisey: Your doctor isn’t qualified to look at your smear. A series of procedures needs to occur to allow the various types of cells to become visible under a microscope. Your doctor could see blood in your smear, not nuclear detail on the cells which is how cancer is determined.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sinead Foley
    Favourite Sinead Foley
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 9:04 PM

    @Ciara Ní Mhurchú: which begs the question… why don’t we? There has to be accountability. This wasn’t simply human error, this was a complete systems failure and concerted withholding of information on many levels. It’s heartbreaking.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 10:51 PM

    @Sinead Foley: because harney outsourced the prgramme to the US So medical scientists in that area retired or moved discipline. No one is going after Harney I have noticed, when shes the one responsible for this. Not Holohan or anyone else, Harney.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sinead Foley
    Favourite Sinead Foley
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 11:04 PM

    @Ciara Ní Mhurchú: yes agreed Ciara that’s the truth but that does not exonerate those who came into possession of the facts and information when it became blatantly obvious that there was an issue. I remember being at a lecture on women’s health in uni and this very issue was discussed, questioned and subsequently dismissed and that’s some time back. Yes Mary Harney made the economic decision but by God her successors saw the consequences and stood idly by. As someone who was involved in women health this whole thing turns my stomach.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 8:06 AM

    @Ciara Ní Mhurchú: My doctor here wasn’t, hence my long wait to hear it has returmed and missed opportunity to treat. My doctor in The States was, which is my point.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 8:25 AM

    @Ciara Ní Mhurchú: Harney outsourced to an incompatible tech to ours, then took her sweet time to rectify the situation.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 11:25 AM

    @Mary Morrisey: It’s still outsourced.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 11:26 AM

    @Sinead Foley: The consequences were inevitable as Harney was told. Her successorsndidnt know about it as its not as if she passed our fears on to her successors.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 11:27 AM

    @Mary Morrisey: The issue is with the labs and doctors in the US.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Holohan
    Favourite Martin Holohan
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:18 PM

    Commenting on a Sunday??
    Surely Leo deserves a 16k rise for this, after all the Govt are giving them out like smarties!!

    128
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Clinton
    Favourite Michael Clinton
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:18 PM

    At last, a positive move.
    Now no delays or more deaths.
    Get it done now!!.
    You can rush pay increases through in a few days so get this done ASAP.

    97
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Greedylocks
    Favourite Greedylocks
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:27 PM

    Its a postive move in the right direction and is to be welcomed. But could we have a similar action with prostate cancer in men.

    78
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Emer Caffrey
    Favourite Emer Caffrey
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 6:31 PM

    Another scandal brewing in breast screening or the total lack of it. It’s right at the bottom of the government’s list, while they’re happy to go ahead with Galway races, shop openings etc. Shameful

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Padraic O Sullivan
    Favourite Padraic O Sullivan
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:49 PM

    Please put Corporate Manslaughter on the Statute books. Cheers

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
    Favourite Thomas O' Donnell
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 5:56 PM

    @Padraic O Sullivan: On what basis? It’s a screening program, not a diagnostic program, so is only ever intended to catch most cases, not all.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 6:33 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: I’m speechless at your misunderstanding of the our medical system and your lack of empathy. You’d make a great HSE manager.

    44
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 7:41 PM

    @Mary Morrisey: Thomas is correct. It’s a screening program, not a diagnosis.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
    Favourite Thomas O' Donnell
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 8:36 PM

    @Mary Morrisey: I was responding to a comment, not giving a full analysis of the whole situation. The withholding of information was wrong and, from some of the accounts that were given, the manner in which the information was sometimes given was disgraceful. My concern would be that if there’s going to be litigation for every cancer the screening misses (within the normal percentages) then no one will do it.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sinead Foley
    Favourite Sinead Foley
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 9:41 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: it was the reporting of the results or the non-reporting that’s the problem not the programme itself wouldn’t you say.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Toner
    Favourite Joe Toner
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 11:00 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell:
    Wrong… Wrong…. Wrong….

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Morrisey
    Favourite Mary Morrisey
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 8:10 AM

    @Ciara Ní Mhurchú: What is the purpose of a screening program if not to diagnose positive or negative results?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 12:44 PM

    @Joe Toner: He’s not wrong Joe.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Favourite Ciara Ní Mhurchú
    Report
    Jul 27th 2020, 12:47 PM

    @Mary Morrisey: Screening programmes are to detect presymptomatic/ early signs of the disease, not the disease itself. It’s not as simple as being positive or negative for it.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute isnt it grand?
    Favourite isnt it grand?
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 9:56 PM

    The HSE has a accumulated a very large drawer of “pledges”……….

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute AOL
    Favourite AOL
    Report
    Jul 26th 2020, 9:17 PM

    Retroactive as always. Way too little too late

    12
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds