Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of tuberculosis cases show evidence of (a) multi drug resistance and (b) rifampicin resistance.

Detailed analysis on drug resistance is published in the annual Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Microbiology England reports, with the most recent being from 2023. Rifampicin-resistant (RR) and multidrug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) is reported in a single category, in line with World Health Organization’s categorisation. The full report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-in-england-2024-report/tuberculosis-diagnosis-and-microbiology-england-2023.

Definitive diagnosis of RR or MDR TB requires the TB bacteria to be isolated from culture. 71 people, or 2.4% of the 2,973 individuals with positive cultures, were diagnosed with RR or MDR TB in 2023. An additional 37 individuals were treated for RR or MDR TB in England in 2023 in the absence of a positive culture. Overall, 108 out of 4,855 people, or 2.2%, were treated for RR or MDR TB in 2023.

The UK Health Security Agency routinely undertakes whole genome sequencing of all TB strains through the National Mycobacterial Reference Service, to support treatment decisions based on resistance profiles.