Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2014

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology
• Communicable Disease Surveillance

Background:

• Australia has maintained effective tuberculosis (TB) control since the mid-1980s, with incidence rates around 5-6 cases per 100,000 population.
• Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains low, representing 1-2% of annual notifications.
• TB disproportionately affects overseas-born individuals (86% of notifications) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (rates ~6x higher).

Purpose of the Study:

• To report on tuberculosis notifications in Australia for 2014.
• To assess the current status of TB control in Australia.
• To highlight key populations affected by TB and inform future control strategies.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of tuberculosis (TB) notification data from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) for 2014.
• Calculation of TB incidence rates per 100,000 population.
• Comparison of TB rates across different demographic groups, including overseas-born and Indigenous populations.

Main Results:

• In 2014, 1,339 TB notifications were received, yielding an incidence rate of 5.7 per 100,000 population.
• The proportion of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases remained low.
• Overseas-born individuals constituted the majority of TB notifications (86%), while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations experienced significantly higher TB rates.

Conclusions:

• Australia demonstrates excellent and sustained control of tuberculosis (TB).
• Targeted interventions are necessary to address the higher TB burden in overseas-born and Indigenous populations.
• Continued efforts are crucial to further reduce TB incidence and contribute to the global goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2035.