A looming threat of tuberculosis in children
The RNTCP guidelines on contact screening are heeded mostly in the breach. About 5,500 of over 76,000 children tested in nine Indian cities have been diagnosed with tuberculosis, 9% of…
Category: Gene Xpert
India wants to eliminate TB by 2025 but falters on several critical fronts
In 2015, India accounted for nearly 2.8 million (27%) of the 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases in the world, and 0.48 million (29%) of the 1.8 million TB deaths…
Cheaper TB diagnostic test developed in India enters final validation stage
A cheaper, locally developed molecular diagnostic test, Truenat MTB, for drug-sensitive and rifampicin-resistant TB is entering the final leg of performance validation and operational feasibility testing by the Indian Council of…
Without a magic wand, India cannot eliminate TB by 2025
At the end of 50 years of tuberculosis control activities, the disease remains a major health challenge in India. As per new estimates, the number of new cases every year…
Time India got serious about fighting TB
Pushed to a corner owing to lack of political will on the part of countries with a high burden of tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation has called for the first…
About 0.5 million TB patients approaching RNTCP centres are not treated
In 2013, India had about 2.7 million people with TB, which is 23 per cent of the global burden of TB. India also accounted for 27 per cent (760,000) of…
Trials with antibiotics lead to TB diagnosis delay
Tuberculosis patients in India who seek care in the private sector face a delay of as long as two months before they are diagnosed correctly — if at all —…
India sets an example in subsidised TB diagnosis
There is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy TB scenario in India. Of the 12 high-burden countries where the private sector is a major player in providing health care,…
