Missed diagnosis of fungal infections in treated TB patients, with global implications

A study of tuberculosis patients in six Jakarta hospitals has revealed up to 13 per cent of them had fungal lung infection - or aspergillosis - at the end of their treatment. The findings could, warn the research team from Universitas Indonesia and The University of Manchester , have implications globally, wherever TB is found. The study tracked 216 patients, showing eight per cent had aspergillosis after six months -the end of their TB therapy. Another five per cent were likely to have had it. The study published in Thorax has major implications for the country which has the third highest number of TB patients in the world: in 2020 there were 824,000 cases and nearly 100,000 deaths. Though most people recovered from TB, the researchers found they were then struck down with the debilitating lung infection. If the results of the study are repeated nationally, around 52,000 Indonesian patients could be similarly affected by the condition immediately after recovering from TB.