13 October 2011
By , Kounteya Sinha
New Delhi , India
It Struck Fewer People World Over In 2010, But Infected 15 Lakh & Killed 3 Lakh Here, Says WHO
First the good news–—the number of people who fell ill with tuberculosis globally dropped to 8.8 million in 2010, after peaking at nine million in 2005. However, in India, the disease still wreaked havoc. It infected over 15 lakh people in 2010 and killed over three lakh.
The WHO 2011 global tuberculosis control report, published on Wednesday, says India’s case detection rate in 2010 was just about 60%. What’s most worrying is that 73,000 of the notified new TB cases were already multi–drug resistant. Of this, lessthan 3,000weredetected.Globally, about 3.3%of all newTBcaseshad MDR–TB in 2009. Each year, about 4.4 lakh MDR–TB cases are estimated to emerge and1.5lakhdiewithit.According to WHO, 2.1% of all new cases in India are MDR–TB while as many as 15% of retreatment TB cases are developing MDR–TB.
WHO director–general Dr MargaretChan said, “Thechallenge now is to pay particular attention to the growing threat of multidrug–resistant TB.” The number of new TB cases tripled in high HIV prevalence countries in the last two decades but showed a slight decline in 2009. TB is the leading cause of death among HIV patients. Almost one in four deaths among peoplewithHIVisdueto TB. In 2009, 3.8 lakh people died of HIV–associatedTB.Itis alsothe most common illness among peopleliving with HIV, including those on antiretroviral treatment.
In India, only 32% of TB patients know their HIV status. Just about 2 lakh HIV +ve people were screened for TB. At least one–third of the 33.3 million HIV +ve people worldwide are infected with TB.
Persons co–infected with TB and HIV are 20–30 times more likely to develop active TB.
Worldwide, the share of domestic funding allocated to TB rose to 86%for 2012.Overall,countrieshave reported a funding shortfall of $1 billion for TB implementation in 2012. Treating MDR–TB remains one of the most underfunded areas. While the number of MDR–TB patients treated rose to 46,000 in 2010, it is 16% of the estimated MDR–TB patients needing treatment. Of the $1 billion gap reported by countries for 2012, $200 million is for the MDR–TB response.
TB deaths fell to 1.4 million in 2009, from 1.8 million in 2003. In 2009, 87% of patients treated were cured, with 46 million people successfully treated. However, a third of the estimated TB cases worldwide are not notified. “Fewer people are dying of TB and fewer are falling ill. This is major progress. But it is no cause for complacency,” said UN Secretary–General Ban Ki–moon.
DISTURBING FIGURES
India’s case detection rate in 2010 was just about 60% Globally, 3.3% of all new TB cases in 2009 were multi–drug resistant. According to WHO, 2.1% of all new cases in India are multi–drug resistant
TB is the leading cause of death among HIV patients. In India, only 32% of TB patients know their HIV status. Just about two lakh HIV +ve people have been screened for TB
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.
