Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent studies in India and Vietnam that found that over the last 12 months, over 50 per cent of patients cured of TB, but with new symptoms, had the fungal infection aspergillus; what assessment they have made of estimates of the number of people who will (1) develop, and (2) die from, chronic pulmonary aspergillosi after TB; and what assistance they are providing to countries with a high prevalence of this infection (a) to address misdiagnosis, and (b) to provide treatment.

Recent studies in Vietnam and India have confirmed earlier evidence that patients who recently recovered from TB can develop pulmonary aspergillosis. In the studies, over 50% of patients who had been cured of TB and had ongoing symptoms developed chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. The studies noted that larger sample sizes were required to assess the true prevalence of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. We have not made an assessment of the total numbers of people who will develop, or die from, chronic pulmonary aspergillosis after TB.

Whilst the UK does not directly fund diagnosis and treatment of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, we invest in TB treatment and care through our current £1.4 billion pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and invests in research to develop new diagnostics and treatments for TB. The UK's focus is to support countries to strengthen their health systems to address all causes of ill health.