What is the News?
Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) is in the advanced stage of developing a vaccine against tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis(TB) Cases in India
According to India’s TB Report 2022: India reported a 19% rise in tuberculosis cases in 2021 over the previous year. The total number of incident TB patients (new and relapse) notified during 2021 were 19.33 lakh, as opposed to that of 16.28 lakh in 2020.
Deaths due to TB: The total number of estimated deaths from all forms of TB excluding HIV for 2020 was 4.93 lakh, which was higher by 13% than the 2019 estimate.
A huge majority of 64% of surveyed symptomatic population did not seek healthcare services between 2019 and 2021.
State wise TB Cases: Delhi, with 534 cases per 1 lakh population, has the highest prevalence of TB, followed by Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Kerala has the lowest prevalence with 115 per 1 lakh people.
What are the vaccines being developed against Tuberculosis?
National AIDS Research Institute(NARI) under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is conducting Phase 3 Trials of two potential vaccines for TB namely VPM1002 and Immuvac.
The trials are being done in 18 sites in six Indian states. The phase 3 trials are expected to be over by 2024 after which the patient data will be compiled and results will be analyzed.
Source: This post is based on the article “India’s Tuberculosis fight may get a shot in the arm ” published in The Times of India on 2nd April 2022.
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