E-Paper
Over 10k test positive for both Covid-19 and TB since Oct 2020
Between October and December 2020, the state tested 133,319 Covid-19 patients for TB out of which 2,163 tested positive for both infections
PUNE Out of the 1.40 million Covid-19 cases reported in the state between October 2020 and December 2021, 10,381 also tested positive for tuberculosis. To keep a check on the drop in notifications of tuberculosis cases in the state, the state health department had started bi-directional testing among Covid-19 patients, who were also tested for tuberculosis in case of specific symptoms. The state had begun aggressive testing and identification of tuberculosis as the case fatality rate for TB was higher than Covid-19.
Between October 2020 and December 2020, the state tested about 133,319 Covid-19 patients for TB out of which 2,163 tested positive for both infections. Out of the 2,163, 1,676 were from urban areas while 487 were from rural areas. In the following year between January 2021 and December 2021, out of 1,274,206 Covid-19 cases, 8,668 tested positive for both infections. Of the 8,668, 5,231 were from urban areas and the remaining were from rural areas.
Dr R S Adkekar, joint director of tuberculosis and leprosy, Maharashtra, said, “The identification of TB patients among Covid-19 patients was specifically started as TB patients are more vulnerable to Covid-19 infection. However due to the pandemic, the health care staff was involved in the testing and contact tracing of Covid-19 and so, the reporting for other diseases went down.”
He added that during the pandemic, TB patients were isolated when they tested positive for Covid-19.
According to the state guidelines, the prevalence of TB among Covid-19 patients has been found to be 0.37% to 4.47% in different studies. Tuberculosis is associated with a 2.1-fold increased risk of severe Covid-19 disease. In addition, TB patients also tend to have co-morbidities (malnutrition, diabetes, smoking, HIV etc.) that increase their vulnerability. In order to address this dual morbidity, bi-directional testing was started among Covid-19 positive cases in October 2021.
