Cost of failure to reduce TB in Ireland could breach €70m, says RCSI expert

Post-TB complications and persistent, related health problems would bring the estimated cost to the State even higher than the €70m figure. Picture: iStock

The cost of missing the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) target for reducing the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Ireland could run to over €70m, according to new research.

A study by researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) has estimated that a failure to meet the WHO target for the reduction of TB in the Republic will result in 35 additional deaths, and 989 extra cases of the disease by 2035.