South Africa’s First National TB Prevalence Survey (findings of which were published earlier this year) found that in 2018, the country’s tuberculosis burden was substantially higher than previously thought.
More importantly, in almost half the detected cases there were minimal or no symptoms of TB, says Professor Keertan Dheda, a general physician, pulmonologist and critical care specialist who heads up the pulmonology division at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town.
“These points collectively suggest that the current case-finding strategy for TB, i.e. a passive case-finding strategy, is flawed. This is because it relies on patients self-reporting to TB clinics and hospitals for testing because of symptoms,” he says.