Prevalence of TB Infection

Prevalence of TB infection - The number of persons living with TB infection in a given population during a given time is called the prevalence of TB infection. 

It may be expressed in absolute number for a given population or as a rate per a defined denominator, commonly percentage. 

TB infection should not be confused with TB disease as only a fraction of those infected by TB will develop active TB disease. 

The global prevalence of TB infection: 

• Various studies have show that the prevalence of TB infection globally is 25%. In other words, one-fourth of the world population is infected with TB bacilli.

India: India has the highest estimated burden of TB infection globally, with approximately 350-400 million people living with TB infection. Crude prevalence of TB infection among population age ≥15 years was found to be 31.3% (Based on NTB Prevalence Survey  Report, 2021).

References

• The Global Burden of Latent Tuberculosis Infection: A Re-estimation Using Mathematical Modelling, Plos Medicine, 2016. 
• National TB Prevalence Survey in India (2019-2021) Summary Report, NIRT, ICMR, NHM, MoHFW, GoI.

• Global Burden of Latent Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis: Trends and Estimates Based on Mathematical Modelling, The Lancet, Infectious Diseases, 2019.