Ireland's TB care centre says it cannot meet current or future demand as cases soar

The TB centre, based at St James’ Hospital in Dublin, said urgent action was needed on laboratory supports, as well as staffing and infrastructure.

The country's main centre for tuberculosis care has warned it cannot meet current or future demand, saying it saw as many children under one with the potentially lethal condition as in the previous decade combined.

TB incidence rose by 30% last year overall, the centre said, adding it needed “immediate investment” to address the challenge

The number of emergency reviews doubled between 2023 and 2024, and the service is “at full capacity”.

The centre, based at St James’ Hospital in Dublin, said urgent action was needed on laboratory supports, as well as staffing and infrastructure.

Chief operations officer Aisling Collins said: “Alarmingly, TB cases in children under one year in 2024 equalled the total cases from the previous 10 years combined.” 

The centre has submitted business cases to the Department of Health for funding. It is now running a second clinic as a crisis measure to help treat active cases and people with latent TB.

This is when the person has the bacteria but is not infectious. There is little data on latent TB rates in the Irish population, but one small-scale study found 3.5% of those tested had it.

Ms Collins said delays in diagnosis and treatment impacted vulnerable patients. It can lead to missed diagnosis and worsening illness.

In particular, she highlighted “vulnerable populations”, including people in prison and some in migrant communities.

“Ireland is not on track to meet WHO End TD Strategy targets,” she warned. “Current resourcing falls short of national guidelines requiring immediate assessment of suspected TB cases. The financial burden of failing to meet WHO targets could exceed €70m.” 

She estimated treating one patient with multiple-drug resistant TB could cost €68,000.

According to the World Health Organization, 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023. It says worldwide, TB has likely returned to being the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following three years in which it was replaced by coronavirus.

HSE data shows there were 289 TB cases in Ireland last year, the highest since 2018. 

Ms Collins, in response to a parliamentary query from Fine Gael TD Colm Burke, said pressures also faced the Irish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory.

This laboratory is “at full capacity”, she said. It is unable to meet the growing demand for rapid diagnostics.

Mr Burke described the figures, especially around children’s illnesses, as “frightening”.

“There are various issues here,” he said. “You have people coming from countries abroad where they don’t have the same health supports as we do here in Ireland. 

"The second issue is where you have big numbers of people living in smaller spaces in limited housing, that’s a challenge as well.” 

He added: “I really think this is something we can’t ignore, we need to put the necessary funding in place.” 

He described helping a constituent in Blackpool in Cork City. Her child was admitted to hospital because of respiratory illnesses caused by damp in substandard rental housing.