India accounts for highest Tuberculosis , MDR-Tuberculosis cases in the world: WHO

NEW DELHI: India accounts for the highest number of TB and Multi Drug Resistant-TB cases in the world, according to a World Health Organization report.

The country accounts for 27 per cent of the cases and though it ranks 14 and 15 among the 22 high-burden countries globally but due to its large population the percentage translates into a large number of cases, Health Minister J P Nadda informed the Lok Sabha today while quoting from the WHO Global TB Report, 2014.

As per the data gathered by the government, the total number of TB cases was 14,16,014 in 2013 while the number of MDR-TB cases was 23,157.

Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra reported highest number of cases.