Undernutrition, alcohol abuse and smoking are the biggest risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) in India, where the infection affected an estimated 2.69 million people and killed 449,000 in 2018, according to World Health Organisation Global TB Report 2019 released this week.
While the poor with little or no access to treatment are at highest risk of disease and death, the airborne infection – it spreads through droplets from coughing — is common in urban centres where people are in close contact with each other in workplaces, public transport and living spaces.
On the upside, more people were tested and put on treatment in the country in 2018 than ever before, which led to TB cases in the country declining from 2.74 million in 2017, and incidence rate falling to 199 from 204 per 100,000 population in 2017.
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