NSW Tuberculosis Surveillance Report 2023: Clinical presentation

​​On this page

  1. Disease classification of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2023
  2. Site of disease for tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2023
  3. Extrapulmonary sites of infection for tuberculosis cases with extrapulmonary involvement in NSW, 2023
  4. Proportion of detection methods responsible for the detection of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2023
  5. Proportion of tuberculosis cases tested for HIV at diagnosis in NSW, 2023

Disease classification1 of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2023

​The majority of TB cases in NSW are new cases (93%) in people who have not previously been diagnosed with TB.

Disease classificationNumber of casesPercentage
New case48593%
Recurrence following partial or full treatment overseas194%
Recurrence following partial or full treatment in Australia163%
Total520100%

Site of disease for tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2023

​The majority of TB cases have pulmorary disease, either as a single disease site (54% of cases) or pulmonary disease with another site (33% of cases).

 

Extrapulmonary sites of infection for tuberculosis cases with extrapulmonary involvement in NSW, 20232​

Site of diseaseNumber of cases Percentage
Lymph node11749%
Pleura3213%
Eye and eye appendages208%
Gastrointestinal tract167%
Disseminated disease156%
Brain/central nervous system/meninges100%
Bone, not otherwise specified83%
Spinal cord73%
Genitourinary tract63%
Skin and skin appendages42%
Pericardium31%
Joints (synovial tissue)21%
Other156%
Unknown1<1%

Proportion of detection methods responsible for the detection of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2023

​​Most cases in NSW are tested for TB as they present to a healthcare professional with symptoms of disease ​(70%). Screening for TB (immigration screening, workplace screening​ and other types of screening) leads to the diagnosis of 20% of cases.

 

Proportion of tuberculosis cases tested for HIV at diagnosis in NSW, 2023

​TB cases are recommended to be screened for HIV, as TB increases the risk of people acquiring HIV infection. Only a small number (1%) of cases are found to have both TB and HIV co-infections. 

HIV test resultNumber of casesPercentage
Positive61%
Negative49194%
Not tested204%
Unknown31%

Notes

  1. Recurrence may include cases who have relapsed or have been reinfected.
  2. Multiple sites of disease may be recorded per case. Table only includes cases which have extrapulmonary disease. 
  3. Data for this report was extracted from Notifiable Conditions Records for Epidemiology and Surveillance, NSW Ministry of Health on 24 September 2024.

Overseas-born cases 2023 report Laboratory

Current as at: Thursday 19 December 2024
Contact page owner: Communicable Diseases