Tuberculosis Consultant Services

As for Europe, the prevalence of tuberculous infection was back-calculated for Africa from the available data on the trend in the risk of infection.

The demographics of Africa are hugely different from those in Europe: children make up half of the population and the oldest segment is contributing just a fraction to the overall population. This aspect and the intercept and slope of the trend in the annual risk of infection have as a result that half of the population aged 20 to 49 years is estimated to be infected with M. tuberculosis.

A high prevalence of infection in young adults has important repercussions on the dynamics of the epidemic: as cases of tuberculosis will emerge from those with tuberculous infection, the majority of cases will be found in this age group, that is the generation of parents. This in turn will adversely affect the risk of infection in the youngest generation.

Furthermore, in many African countries, the prevalence and incidence of HIV infection is very high in young adults. In this scenario, half of persons who will become infected with HIV will already have tuberculous infection.