India’s TB Nightmare May be Twice as Bad as Current Estimate

India has the highest occurrence of TB in the world. (Photo: Reuters)

The number of tuberculosis patients in India may be double the current estimate, reports The Times of India based on a study that tracked the sale of anti-TB medicines.

While the number was earlier estimated to be 2.2 million per year, The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal claimed that the number of cases was over 3.8 million in 2014.

We realised the number of patients coming to the private sector were underestimated, but the new study looked at medicine sales and found that this number alone could be as high as 2.2 million as against the 8 lakh we had previously estimated. 

Dr Sunil Khaparde, Central TB Division

It is estimated that nearly one-fourth of all the TB cases globally accounted for are from India.

Data of drug sales collected by IMS Health found that India’s TB burden had jumped from 2.2 to 3.4 million in 2014.

In a study published in the Indian Journal of Tuberculosis in 2004, it was found that in a single ward of a hospital in Andheri, 94 cases had been registered in the government programme, and 363 cases in laboratories and radiology centers.

Source: The Times of India

Also read: Why Does TB Still Kill 2 Indians Every 3 Minutes?