India is the country with the highest burden of TB. The World Health Organisation (WHO) TB statistics for India for 2015 give an estimated incidence figure of 2.2 million cases of TB for India out of a global incidence of 9.6 million. The TB incidence for India is the number of new cases of active TB disease in India during a certain time period (usually a year).
The estimated TB prevalence figure for 2015 is given as 2.5 million.1“Global Tuberculosis Control 2015, WHO, Geneva, 2015 www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/ The TB prevalence is the number of people in India who are living with active TB. Prevalence is usually, but not always given as a percentage of the population.2“Basic Statistics: About Incidence, Prevalence, Morbidity, and Mortality – Statistics Teaching Tools”, Department of Health, New York State www.health.ny.gov/diseases/chronic/basicstat.htm
It is estimated that about 40% of the Indian population is infected with TB bacteria, the vast majority of whom have latent TB rather than TB disease.
Most of the national TB statistics for India are collected by the government Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) which was started in 1997, and which was then expanded across the country.
| Year | Population of India covered under RNTCP (millions) | People sputum tested | People diagnosed sputum smear positive | Total rate of TB cases notified to RNTCP | Total TB cases notified in the private sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,192 | 7,550,522 | 939,062 | 128 | n/a |
| 2011 | 1,210 | 7,875,158 | 953,032 | 125 | n/a |
| 2012 | 1,228 | 7,867,194 | 933,905 | 119 | 3,106 |
| 2013 | 1,247 | 8,121,514 | 928,190 | 113 | 38,596 |
| 2014 | 1,266 | 8,783,551 | 929,043 | 114 | 106,414 |
| 2015 | 1,285 | 9,132,306 | 902,732 | 111 | 184,802 |
The rate is the number per 100,000 population.
Sputum smear microscopy is the most common TB test, and the majority of people with TB are sputum smear positive. But some people who have TB, particularly people with both HIV and TB may be sputum smear negative.
| Year | New smear positive success | New smear positive death | New smear positive failure | New smear positive default | New smear negative success | New smear negative death | New smear negative failure | New smear negative default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 87% | 4% | 2% | 6% | 88% | 3% | 1% | 7% |
| 2010 | 88% | 4% | 2% | 6% | 89% | 3% | 1% | 7% |
| 2011 | 88% | 4% | 2% | 5% | 89% | 3% | 0% | 7% |
| 2012 | 87% | 4% | 2% | 6% | 89% | 4% | 0% | 6% |
| 2013 | 88% | 4% | 2% | 6% | 90% | 4% | 0% | 6% |
| Year | New smear positive patient cured | New smear positive treatment completed | New smear positive death | New smear positive failure | New smear positive default | New smear negative treatment completed | New smear negative death | New smear negative failure | New smear negative default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 83% | 4% | 4% | 2% | 5% | 89% | 4% | 0% | 6% |
Patients who experience only a short improvement whilst on drug treatment, or who never respond to treatment at all, are said to have failed their TB treatment. Patients are usually referred to as having defaulted on their treatment, and need retreatment, if they stopped taking their first course of drug treatment before they had finished the course.
Treatment success for New Smear Positive patients is defined as the patient being cured and their treatment has been completed. Treatment for new smear negative patients is that the patients treatment has been completed.
See the page on TB treatment for how drugs are used to treat TB.
| Year | No. registered | Retreatment success after treatment relapse | Retreatment success after treatment default | Retreatment success after treatment failure | Total smear positive retreatment success | Total smear positive retreatment death |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Not known | 75% | 68% | 57% | 71% | 14% |
| 2011 | Not known | 75% | 68% | 55% | 71% | 14% |
| 2012 | Not known | 74% | 66% | 54% | 70% | 14% |
| 2013 | Not known | 75% | 66% | 57% | 71% | 13% |
| 2014 | 178,166 | 74% | 66% | 58% | 70% | 8% |
TB retreatment is when patients need TB treatment again after they have ended their first course of drug treatment. People who need retreatment may be classified according to whether they relapsed, failed or defaulted on their original treatment.
In any retreatment situation it is possible that the person has got drug resistant TB. This is particularly likely to be the case if the person has never responded to and has failed their initial drug treatment. In this case they need drug susceptibility testing for drug resistance and they may need specific TB treatment for drug resistant TB.
The statistics given above are the figures for retreatment among smear positive patients. They do not include the retreatment outcomes for smear negative patients, who are subsequently found to have TB. Many of the smear negative patients will have both HIV and TB.
The main TB statistics for each state in India also come from the government Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP).
| State | Population covered by RNTCP | Smear positive patients diagnosed (2015) | Total patients registered for treatment (2015) | New smear positive cured (%) (2014) | Smear positive retreatment registered (%) (2014) | Smear positive retreatment cured (%) (2014) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman & Nicobar | 400,000 | 129 | 584 | 85 | 71 | 63 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 50,800,000 | 41,698 | 61,758 | 88 | 4840 | 76 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1,500,000 | 1,240 | 2,748 | 87 | 210 | 74 |
| Assam | 32,900,000 | 21,441 | 38,014 | 79 | 2,063 | 58 |
| Bihar | 113,100,000 | 44,238 | 64,928 | 76 | 2,881 | 63 |
| Chandigarh | 1,100,000 | 2,735 | 3,143 | 89 | 226 | 86 |
| Chhattisgarh | 27,500,000 | 16,088 | 29,950 | 83 | 890 | 64 |
| D & H Haveli | 400,000 | 472 | 487 | 85 | 37 | 62 |
| Daman & Diu | 300,000 | 257 | 284 | 83 | 14 | 64 |
| Delhi | 17,600,000 | 24,665 | 55,260 | 86 | 3,985 | 77 |
| Goa | 1,500,000 | 977 | 1,599 | 86 | 106 | 71 |
| Gujarat | 64,500,000 | 62,193 | 82,585 | 88 | 8,645 | 73 |
| Haryana | 27,200,000 | 26,246 | 40,913 | 84 | 4,719 | 68 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 7,100,000 | 7,957 | 14,333 | 87 | 1,945 | 75 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 13,600,000 | 5,699 | 9,873 | 82 | 1,158 | 62 |
| Jharkhand | 35,900,000 | 20,544 | 34,792 | 84 | 1,733 | 66 |
| Karnataka | 64,400,000 | 41,693 | 59,932 | 82 | 4,314 | 62 |
| Kerala | 33,900,000 | 14,147 | 22,785 | 84 | 1,134 | 73 |
| Lakshadweep | 100,000 | 23 | 40 | 87 | 0 | 0 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 77,800,000 | 60,325 | 103,108 | 86 | 5,091 | 64 |
| Maharashtra | 117,700,000 | 74,463 | 130,874 | 82 | 10,503 | 60 |
| Manipur | 2,900,000 | 1,011 | 1,881 | 84 | 134 | 66 |
| Meghalaya | 3,300,000 | 2,365 | 4,674 | 80 | 327 | 59 |
| Mizoram | 1,200,000 | 746 | 2,088 | 84 | 150 | 76 |
| Nagaland | 2,000,000 | 1,804 | 3,316 | 90 | 209 | 74 |
| Orissa | 43,900,000 | 28,183 | 45,814 | 83 | 2,070 | 63 |
| Pondicherry | 1,400,000 | 2,856 | 1,288 | 88 | 130 | 75 |
| Punjab | 29,000,000 | 22,309 | 38,625 | 83 | 4,414 | 72 |
| Rajasthan | 73,600,000 | 59,804 | 90,296 | 87 | 8,502 | 73 |
| Sikkim | 600,000 | 581 | 1,400 | 79 | 124 | 69 |
| Tamil Nadu | 76,500,000 | 54,547 | 80,543 | 80 | 5,243 | 62 |
| Telangana | 36,300,000 | 27,794 | 39,498 | 86 | 2,747 | 73 |
| Tripura | 3,800,000 | 1,764 | 7,394 | 87 | 219 | 78 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 215,100,000 | 163,031 | 246,589 | 82 | 17,005 | 66 |
| Uttarakhand | 10,800,000 | 10,299 | 14,317 | 77 | 1,499 | 64 |
| West Bengal | 95,200,000 | 58,408 | 87,468 | 85 | 6,461 | 70 |
| Total | 1,284,800,000 | 902,732 | 1,423,181 | 83 | 103,799 | 68 |
Smear positive patients diagnosed includes new smear positive cases and smear positive retreatment cases.
Total patients registered for treatment includes new sputum smear positive cases, new smear negative cases, new extra pulmonary cases, new others, relapse, failure etc.
TB India 2016 Revised National TB Control Programme Annual Status Report, New Delhi, 2016 www.tbcindia.nic.in/
TB India 2015 Revised National TB Control Programme Annual Status Report, New Delhi, 2015 www.tbcindia.nic.in/
| 1. | ↑ | “Global Tuberculosis Control 2015, WHO, Geneva, 2015 www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/ |
| 2. | ↑ | “Basic Statistics: About Incidence, Prevalence, Morbidity, and Mortality – Statistics Teaching Tools”, Department of Health, New York State www.health.ny.gov/diseases/chronic/basicstat.htm |
Main Author : Annabel Kanabus
Citation : Kanabus, Annabel "Information about Tuberculosis", GHE, 2017, www.tbfacts.org
GHE is a registered charity (no. 1146692) based in the UK.
The initials GHE stand for Global Health Education.
GHE was set up as a charity to improve health through education, particularly in relation to diseases such as TB which have a global impact.