Slight increase in new TB cases is registered in Kyrgyzstan after a sharp decline in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Press center of the Ministry of Health reported, citing the National Phthisiology Center.
According to it, 3,877 tuberculosis patients were detected in 2021 (58.9 per 100,000 people). «3,518 new cases of tuberculosis were registered for the same period in 2020 (53.5 per 100,000 people), and in 2019 — 5,96 cases (78.9 per 100,000 people). The highest incidence rate, as before, is in Chui region — 88.2 per 100,000 people, the lowest — in Issyk-Kul region (37.5 per 100,000 people),» the ministry noted.
The incidence rate among children has also increased — 10.7 per 100,000 children compared to 8.1 in 2020, and 14.2 — in 2019.
Number of TB cases in teenagers also increased. At the end of the year, it was 38.1 per 100,000 people, while in 2020 it was 36.8, and in 2019 — 56.3. Incidence of tuberculosis in adolescents is high in Chui region (71.7 per 100,000 people) and Bishkek (56.7 per 100,000 people).
At the same time, the mortality rate decreased and reached 3.4 per 100,000 patients (226 cases), while in 2020 and 2019 it was 3.9 per 100,000 patients (259 and 253 cases, respectively).
The Ministry of Health added that, according to WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress in the fight against tuberculosis. «Only 5.8 million out of 10 million people who got infected with tuberculosis in the world were detected in 2020, that is, there was an 18 percent decrease to the level of 2012. About 4.1 million patients do not currently know they have TB. The number of people undergoing treatment decreased by 15 percent, and, the death rate from tuberculosis have increased for the first time since 2005: 1.5 million people died from the disease in 2020, including 214,000 HIV-positive patients,» the ministry noted.
