March 24, 2017 - World Tuberculosis Day
Tuberculosis affects several million people worldwide each year. To mark World Tuberculosis Day, Santé publique France is publishing a special issue of its weekly epidemiological bulletin along with new data. These data show a decline in the number of tuberculosis cases reported in France in 2015.
Overview of the Disease
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by a bacillus (mycobacterium of the tuberculosis complex) that most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary tuberculosis) but can also affect other organs (extrapulmonary tuberculosis). Transmission occurs through the air, via the spread of droplets containing bronchial secretions from an infectious patient, particularly when they cough.
Tuberculosis has been a reportable disease in France since 1964. It is a preventable and curable disease.
Key Figures for 2015, France
The number of reported tuberculosis cases continues to decline, with incidence remaining low in France (4,741 cases, or 7.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 7.3 per 100,000 in 2014).
Reporting rates for the disease remain higher in French Guiana (18.3), the Île-de-France region (14.5), and Mayotte (25.9), as in previous years.
Persistent disparities, both demographic and geographic, are observed, with particularly high reported rates among homeless individuals (167 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and those born abroad (35 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).
The latest BCG vaccination coverage data show high and stable levels in the Île-de-France region and French Guiana (approximately 80% by age 9 months) but clearly insufficient levels in metropolitan France outside the Île-de-France region (<50% among children at risk of tuberculosis followed by private practitioners). This decline in vaccination coverage observed since 2006 has not, to date, had an impact on the epidemiology of childhood tuberculosis beyond what was expected. The number of tuberculosis cases among children under 10 years of age has remained stable, and the number of severe cases in this age group does not exceed the number predicted at the time of the change in BCG vaccination policy.
Number of reported cases and case rate (per 100,000 inhabitants) of tuberculosis, France as a whole, 2000–2015
Sources: Santé publique France (mandatory tuberculosis reporting, updated February 2017), INSEE (population censuses, localized population estimates as of January 1 starting in 1993, updated January 2016)
See also
World Tuberculosis Day, March 24, 2017. Bull Epidémiol Hebd. 2017;7.
