Tehran, IRNA – Over 7,200 patients were diagnosed with tuberculosis in the country, of whom 56% are men and 22.8% are non-Iranians, Iran’s Health Ministry announced.

Out of the total 7,299 people diagnosed with tuberculosis in the last Iranian calendar year (ending March 21, 2023), 3,945 (4.6 per 100,000 individuals) suffered from smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis, announced the Center for Disease Control and Prevention affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

A review of the incidence of tuberculosis from March 21, 2018, to March 20, 2023, in Iran shows a decreasing trend in the reported cases of tuberculosis in way that the reported rate of all cases of the disease decreased from 10.5 per 100,000 in 2018 to 8.5 per 100,000 in 2023.

There was a noticeable decline in tuberculosis cases in Iran between March 21, 2020, and March 20, 2021.

The decline has its roots in the global COVID-19 pandemic and that maximum attention was redirected to the pandemic by the heath system, and factors such as physical distancing measures implemented, human resource fatigue, the similarity of respiratory symptoms between tuberculosis and coronavirus disease as well as other important reasons, including the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on timely diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in comparison to other contagious diseases.

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