A study to assess impact of COVID-19 on trends of TB prevalence in Tumkur district

Abstract

: Tuberculosis (TB) still continues to be endemic in various regions of the world, with 26% of the global TB cases are from India. In 2020, a total of 1.8 million cases reported as against 2.6 million in the previous year. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic derailed the momentum gained and the routine TB related services were adversely affected across the country due to COVID containment measures. The rapid and unexpected surge in demand for diagnosis, treatment, and care of COVID-19 patients has interfered with routine TB services. We assess the impact of Covid-19 on trends of TB prevalence in Tumkur district. By convenient sampling technique the secondary data was drawn from Nikshay portal in district TB centre Tumkur. All TB patients from last 3 years data was entered and analysis done in MS excel to compare testing rate, diagnostic tools, treatment groups, comorbid and treatment outcome. 3719 patients were enrolled for treatment during the year 2020-21 as against 6719 in the previous years. The co morbid percentage is similar across both groups and the rapid diagnostic test was used more during pandemic for microbiological confirmation of TB. Extra pulmonary tb made up to 30% of total cases during the pandemic with low contract tracing during the period. The case notification and treatment outcome are drastically reduced during the pandemic. With limited resources, less infrastructure it’s hard for middle income countries like India to cope up pandemic crisis.