Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 35139, how many people need to be successfully treated for latent TB infection under the Collaborative TB Strategy’s entrant screening programme to prevent one case of active TB.

Jane Ellison

Evidence shows that latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) treatment has a protective efficacy of between 60-90% in preventing progressions to active TB[1]. Without treatment 5-10% of patients with LTBI would progress to active TB.

Using these figures, between 11 and 33 persons with LTBI would need to be treated to prevent one case of active TB.

[1]

Sharma SK, Sharma A, Kadhiravan T, Tharyan P. Rifamycins (rifampicin, rifabutin and rifapentine) compared to isoniazid for preventing tuberculosis in HIV-negative people at risk of active TB. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD007545. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007545.pub2