MDR-TB Treatment & Prevention

Dear Alexandru,

The thresholds are mainly set from the Regional perspective. In Europe we have less than 20 in 100,000 as a low incidence country. In WHO African Region, 200 in 100,000 is set as the threshold.

The other issue is that even at the national level of low incidence countries, there are sub population or districts which may have much higher incidence.

It would be good to hear what others think?

All the best.
Masoud

Dear Colleagues,

Another term commonly used 'High / low burden country'. How do we define it?
Regards,

Rajbir Singh
GLRA

Dear Dr Singh,

The high burden countries are the countries contributing to 80 percent of global TB cases (22 countries). This depends not only on TB incidence but also to the population size of the countries.

All the best,
Masoud

Hi there,
To consider this as an epidemy, one has to take into account the background cases. For instance, during a time period X there were 3 cases of TB per 100.000 people and at different time period Y you observe a significant number of new cases. This would be considered as an outbreak.
Humbly,
Maxo