COLOMBO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka records between 8,500 and 9,500 tuberculosis (TB) cases each year, a senior official at the National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases (NPTCCD) said on Thursday.
The country detected 8,726 TB patients in 2025. About 75 percent of the patients had pulmonary TB, while around 5,500 carried infectious bacteria that could transmit the disease to others, Mizaya Cader, consultant community physician at the NPTCCD, told journalists.
She said nearly 45 percent of the country's TB cases are reported from the Western Province. TB cases are concentrated in several densely populated areas in the Colombo district, including Modara, Mattakkuliya, Borella, Wanathamulla and Grandpass.
Cader added that health authorities expect a slight decline of about 500 cases next year. ■
