Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 May 2004
57 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Health and Children the interim measures and long-term strategy he has put in place to control and treat tuberculosis and, in particular, the control and treatment of acute drug resistant tuberculosis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15453/04]
View answerThe Health Act 1947 and the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 provide the legislative basis for the control of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, in Ireland. My Department's strategy for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis is guided by the recommendations of the report of the working party on tuberculosis, 1996, which covers a wide range of issues, including epidemiology, surveillance, screening, preventative therapy, clinical management and laboratory diagnosis.
Responsibility for the implementation of the recommendations rests with the departments of public health in the regional health boards. As recommended in the report, a permanent committee, the national tuberculosis committee, was established to advise on a detailed national strategy for the control and management of tuberculosis. The committee meets when necessary to review all relevant issues.
The National Disease Surveillance Centre monitors rates of tuberculosis in Ireland on an ongoing basis, identifies any increases in rates or clusters of the disease here and notifies my Department accordingly. The NDSC will advise my Department of any actions that are deemed necessary to deal with additional cases should the need arise. I am confident that the public health service can deal adequately with such cases. According to the National Disease Surveillance Centre, the most serious form of drug resistance is multi-drug resistance, which is defined as resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin.
In terms of the total number of cases of tuberculosis notified as compared with the resistant cases notified, the following information is for the years 1999 — 2003 inclusive: 1999 — number of TB cases, 469; number of partially resistant cases, seven or 1.5% of total cases; number of multi-drug resistant cases, two or 0.4% of total cases; 2000 — number of TB cases, 395; number of partially resistant cases, five or 1.3%; number of multi-drug resistant cases, three or 0.6%; 2001 — number of TB cases, 381; number of partially resistant cases, 12 or 3%; number of multi-drug resistant cases, two or 0.5%; 2002, provisional — number of TB cases, 400; number of partially resistant cases, five or 1.25%; number of multi-drug resistant cases, none; 2003, provisional — number of TB cases, 421; number of partially resistant cases, eight or 1.90%; number of multi-drug resistant cases, one or 0.24%.
