Singapore, March 24 Singapore recorded 1,156 new cases of active tuberculosis in 2024, with an incidence rate of 27.6 cases per 100,000 residents, as per the Ministry of Health,
The new cases represent a slight decline from the 1,201 cases reported in 2023, which had an incidence rate of 28.9 cases per 100,000. The annual number of new cases has decreased from a peak of 1,617 in 2016 in the past decade, according to ministry data.
Older age groups and males continue to account for a significant portion of new active cases. Among the 1,156 new cases in 2024, 77.9 per cent were aged 50 and above, while 67.5 per cent were male, Xinhua news agency reported.
Tuberculosis is endemic in Singapore, and latent tuberculosis infection is not uncommon, with rates of up to 30 per cent in the older age groups, the ministry said, noting that individuals with latent tuberculosis infection carry the bacteria but are not infectious as the bacteria remain inactive.
According to the WHO, TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that most often affect the lungs. It spreads through the air when people with TB cough, sneeze, or spit. TB is preventable and curable with specific antibiotics, but it still kills more people than any other infection.
Every year, 10 million people fall ill with TB. Despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die from TB each year – making it the world’s top infectious killer.
TB is the leading cause of death of people with HIV and also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance.
Most of the people who fall ill with TB live in low and middle-income countries, but TB is present all over the world. About half of all people with TB can be found in 8 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and South Africa.
About a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria, but most people will not go on to develop TB disease and some will clear the infection. Those who are infected but not (yet) ill with the disease cannot transmit it.
The World Tuberculosis Day was observed on Monday.
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