Ireland: TB notifications at lowest point since records began

The data corresponds to a provisional crude rate of 7.1 per 100,000 population in Ireland. This is almost half the 640 notifications and crude rate per 100,000 population of 18.2 recorded back in 1991.

Eleven of the cases died in 2014 (3.4%). “TB was reported as the cause of death in three of these cases, four deaths were not due to the disease and cause of death was not reported for the remaining four cases,” the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) stated.

During the period, five TB outbreaks were reported to the HPSC, comprising 16 cases of active disease (none of whom were hospitalised), as well as 10 cases of latent TB infection (LTBI), all of which were reported from a single outbreak.

Three outbreaks occurred in HSE South, and one each occurred in HSE East and North East. All outbreaks notified during 2014 reported M. tuberculosis or M. tuberculosis complex as the causative pathogen.

Two general outbreaks occurred last year, one in a community setting and one associated with a public house. Three family outbreaks also took place during 2014, one of which occurred across an extended family and two were in private homes.

By region, HSE East reported the highest number of cases at 137 (41.8% of total), with 36.9 per cent of total cases being reported in Dublin. There were six notifications from HSE East, five from HSE South and two from HSE South East. More cases were reported in males (176, 53.7%) compared to 152 females (46.3%). The highest proportion of cases (76, 23.2%) occurred in those aged 65 years and older followed by 72 cases (22%) in the 25-34 age group. Some 177 (54%) TB cases were in people born in Ireland and 134 (40.9%) were born abroad, of which 13 (9.7%) were asylum seekers or refugees. Country of birth was not reported for 17 (5.2%) cases.

Source: Irish Medical Times