NSW Tuberculosis Surveillance Report 2024: Clinical presentation

​​​​​​​​On t​​his page

  1. Disease classification of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2024
  2. Site of disease for tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2024
  3. Extrapulmonary sites of infection for tuberculosis cases with extrapulmonary involvement in NSW, 2024
  4. Proportion of detection methods responsible for the detection of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2024
  5. Proportion of tuberculosis cases tested for HIV at diagnosis in NSW, 2024

Dis​ease classification1 ​of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2024

The majority of TB cases in NSW are new cases (95%) in people who have not previously been diagnosed with TB. Two cases were confirmed relapses with the same TB strain on whole genome sequencing. 

Disease classificationNumber of casesPercentage
New case493
95%
Recurrence following partial or full treatment overseas15
3%
Recurrence following partial or full treatment in Australia10
2%
​Relapse following partial or full treatment in Australia
2​<1%​
​Unknown
1​<1%​
Total
521
100%

Site of disease for tubercu​​losis cases in NSW, 2024

The majority of TB cases have pulmo​nary disease, either as a single disease site (60% of cases) or pulmonary disease with another site (9% of cases).

Extrap​​ulmonary sites of infection for tuberculosis cases with extrapulmonary involvement in NSW, 2024​2​


Site of diseaseNumber of cases Percentage
Lymph node93
44%
Pleura38
18%
Eye and eye appendages16
8%
​Disseminated disease
15​7%​
Gastrointestinal tract
14
7%
Brain/central nervous system/meninges7
3%
​Genitourinary tract
7​3%​
​Spinal cord
7​3%​
​Skin and skin appendages
6​3%​
Bone, not otherwise specified
5
2%
Pericardium
5
2%
Other12
6​%

Propo​rtion of detection methods responsible for the detection of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2024

Most cases in NSW are tested for TB as they present to a healthcare professional with symptoms of disease (66%). Screening for TB (immigration screening, workplace screening, contact screening and other types of screening) l​​eads to the diagnosis of 23% of cases.

Proportio​​​n of tuberculosis cases tested for HIV at diagnosis in NSW, 2024

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

HIV test resultNumber of casesPercentage
Positive7
1%
Negative500
96%
Not tested11
2%
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 11 June​​ 2025​.
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Current as at: Wednesday 13 August 2025
Contact page owner: Communicable Diseases