Tuberclosis incidences see a 34 percent rise

Kurnool: The TB epidemic is larger than previously estimated, reflects a new survey from India, Dr Carel Joseph, WHO state consultant said. He was speaking at a seminar on “Recent Advances in TB control” as part of continuous medical education at Kurnool on Wednesday. He said that the number of TB deaths and TB incidence rate continue to fall globally and in India as well. He said that TB treatment averted 49 million deaths globally between 2000 and 2015, but important diagnostic and treatment gaps persist.

It is significant to note that, In 2015, 6.1 million new TB cases were notified to national authorities and reported to WHO, he said.

Quoting a WHO report , he said notified TB cases increased from 2013–2015, mostly due to a 34 per cent increase in notifications in India. However, globally there was a 4.3 million gap between incident and notified cases, with India, Indonesia and Nigeria accounting for almost half of this gap.

The crisis of MDR-TB detection and treatment continues. In 2015, of the estimated 5,80,000 people who were eligible for MDR-TB treatment, only 1,25,000 (20 per cent) have enrolled. Five countries accounted for more than 60 per cent of the gap: India, China, the Russian Federation, Indonesia and Nigeria. Globally, the MDR-TB treatment had a success rate of 52 per cent in 2013. In 2015, 55 per cent of the notified TB patients had a documented HIV test result. The proportion of HIV-positive TB patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) was 78 per cent. Access to TB preventive treatment needs to be expanded. A total of 9,10, 000 people living with HIV were started on such treatment in 2015, as well as 87 ,000 children under five (7 per cent of those eligible), he added.