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Tuberculosis
The number of people diagnosed with tuberculosis worldwide rose again last year, eclipsing 2023's record total, World Health Organisation officials said Wednesday. About 8.3 million people across the globe were reported as newly diagnosed with TB in 2024. Not all infections are diagnosed and the new numbers represent 78% of the estimated number of people who actually fell ill last year, the WHO noted. WHO officials see the increase as an indication that screening and treatment are improving after health care disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, the number of deaths caused by TB fell in 2024 to 1.23 million, down from 1.25 million the year before. US tuberculosis cases continued to rise last year reaching the highest level in more than a dozen years, according to preliminary data released earlier this year. The vast majority of US TB cases are diagnosed in people born in other countries. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that attack the lungs, and is spread through
The World Health Organisation has released new guidelines to tackle tuberculosis and undernutrition, recommending that food assistance be provided to households with TB patients while the undernourished or food insecure be screened for the disease. The shift in the global TB policy is inspired by the pathbreaking Reducing Activation of Tuberculosis by Improvement of Nutritional Status (RATIONS) trial by Indian researchers. The RATIONS trial, conducted in Jharkhand and published in The Lancet and The Lancet Global, highlighted the vital role nutrition plays in reducing mortality among people living with active TB, as well as in reducing incidence among household contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. The ICMR-supported RATIONS trials were led by a research team headed by Dr Anurag Bhargava and Dr Madhavi Bhargava from Kasturba Medical College and Yenepoya Medical College, respectively. The studies showed that weight gain in the first two months was associated with a 60 per cen
In a boost to India's fight against tuberculosis, apex health research body ICMR has validated new indigenously developed tools that could bolster the country's diagnostic capacity and offer a cheaper detection option. Eliminating tuberculosis (TB) depends crucially on the ability to detect early, accurately, and universally, to initiate patients on treatment and curb community transmission. Among the recently validated tools is Quantiplus MTB FAST detection kit, developed by Huwel Lifesciences in Telangana, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in a note. Quantiplus is the first open system RT-PCR assay validated for the detection of lung TB as it can run on any existing PCR machine and is not limited to proprietary platforms. "This means, laboratories across India, even those without specialised 'closed' equipment, can now expand rapid molecular TB testing using standard PCR machines," a source explained. Furthermore, Quantiplus can test as many as 96 samples ...
A study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has demonstrated the impact of improved nutrition in reducing tuberculosis cases and fatalities, with the WHO incorporating the findings into updated global guidance on controlling the disease. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of nutritional supplementation on tuberculosis incidence in household contacts of adults with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. Household contacts of 2,800 patients with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis across 28 units of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme in four districts of Jharkhand were enrolled for this field-based, open-label, cluster-randomised controlled trial. The study, published by The Lancet, said that in India, tuberculosis and undernutrition are syndemic, with a high burden of TB coexisting with a high burden of undernutrition in patients and in the population. In a post on X on August 7, ICMR said the WHO has recogni
The Gujarat government on Friday said the state witnessed 34 per cent reduction in the number of new tuberculosis patients and 37 per cent reduction in mortality rate in 2023 when compared to 2015. A release said Governor Acharya Devvrat held a meeting with senior officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and conducted a comprehensive review of the work being done under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. "In Gujarat, the number of new TB patients in 2023 has decreased by 34 per cent and deaths by 37 per cent compared to 2015. For this, the Union government has given Gujarat first place in the 'States with Most Improvement' category" officials told the governor," the release said. "The governor requested the officials to work as a movement to make Gujarat completely TB free. He said officials should not be lax in the work of TB control. He asked them to work seriously to achieve the target and to spread more ...
Tamil Nadu has become the first state in the country to implement a model which predicts the probability of deaths among adults with Tuberculosis and has integrated it with the existing state-wide application TB SeWA, which triages them at diagnosis. The predictive model, developed by ICMR's National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) that was launched last week, aims to reduce the average time from diagnosis to hospital admission for severely ill TB patients, thereby bringing down the mortality rate further, said Dr Asha Frederick, State TB Officer of Tamil Nadu. The new feature has been added to Tamil Nadu's existing TB SeWA (Severe TB Web Application), which has been in use since 2022 under the state's differentiated care model initiative Tamil Nadu - Kasanoi Erappila Thittam (TN-KET), she told PTI. Under TN-KET, healthcare workers screen a triage every newly diagnosed adult with TB for very severe undernutrition, respiratory distress or poor physical condition using five variables
Tools like AI-driven handheld X-rays were used across various states to screen vulnerable persons for tuberculosis (TB) under the 100-day intensified 'TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan', minister of state for health informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. In a written reply, Minister Anupriya Patel said the government has adopted Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools validated and recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for chest X-ray analysis and Line Probe Assay (LPA) result interpretation. The DeepCXR tool is being used for automated chest X-ray reading, while an AI-based system facilitates automated reading, recording, and entry of LPA results, she added. Additionally, the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) has adopted DeepCXR tool for automated reading of chest X-ray, which is available free of cost to the government, Patel said. It has been deployed in eight states and Union Territories under the NTEP to analyze X-rays of presumptive TB cases, the minister