DO WE KNOW FATE OF ALL OUR TB PATIENTS?

Abstract

In spite of the fact that effective chemotherapy is available for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB), globally it is still a major health problem. It is estimated that 1.5 million people died with tuberculosis in 2010 and 9.2 million people were infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis1 Formerly Pakistan was ranked 6th amongst 22 high burden countries and now for the last few years, it has moved to 5th position in this group. This may be because of increased incidence of tuberculosis in Pakistan, or due to improved reporting system leading to increased number of registered TB patients, or that the incidence in other countries has decreased proportionately2,. In Pakistan, the incidence, prevalence and mortality of TB is 231, 364, and 58/100,000 population per year respectively.