NSW Tuberculosis Surveillance Report 2025: Clinical presentation

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  1. Disease classification of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2025
  2. Site of disease for tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2025
  3. Extrapulmonary sites of infection for tuberculosis cases with extrapulmonary involvement in NSW, 2025
  4. Proportion of detection methods responsible for the detection of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2025
  5. Proportion of tuberculosis cases tested for HIV at diagnosis in NSW, 2025

Dis​ease classification1 ​of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2025

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 and one case was a confirmed re-infection with a different strain on whole genome sequencing. 

Disease classificationNumber of casesPercentage
New case (no prior TB treatment)
524
95%
Recurrent TB​ 2​- previ​ous treatment overseas20
4%
Recurrent TB ​ 2​- previous treatment in Australia
5
1%
​Relapse of TB - previous treatment in Australia
(genomically confirmed)
​2​<1%​
​Re-infection of TB - previous treatment in Australia (genomically confirmed)
1​ <1%​​
Total
552
100%

Site of disease for tubercu​​losis cases in NSW, 2025

The majority of TB cases have pulmo​nary disease, either as a single disease site (57% of cases) or pulmonary disease with another site (11% of cases).

 

Extrap​​ulmonary sites of infection for tuberculosis cases with extrapulmonary involvement in NSW, 2025​3​


Site of diseaseNumber of cases Percentage
Lymph node117
50%
Pleura
41
17%
​Disseminated disease
38​16%​
​Gastrointestinal tract
26​11%​
​Spinal cord
12​5%​
Eye and eye appendages
10
4%
​Genitourinary tract
10​4%​
Bone, not otherwise specified
9
4%
Brain or central nervous system or ​meninges8
3%
​Skin and skin appendages
6​3%​
Pericardium
5​2%​
Other3
1%

Propo​rtion of detection methods responsible for the detection of tuberculosis cases in NSW, 2025

Most cases in NSW are tested for TB as they present to a healthcare professional with symptoms of disease (67%). Screening for TB (immigration screening, workplace screening, contact screening and other types of screening) l​​eads to the diagnosis of 28% of cases.

 

Proportio​​​n of tuberculosis cases tested for HIV at diagnosis in NSW, 2025

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

HIV test resultNumber of casesPercentage
Positive4
1%
Negative532
96%
Not tested15
3%
Unknown1
<1%

Notes

  1. Recurrence may include cases who have relapsed or have been reinfected.
  2. Unable to distinguish between relapse or​ re‑infection.
  3. Multiple sites of disease may be recorded per case. Table only includes cases which have extrapulmonary disease.
  4. Data for this report was extracted from Notifiable Conditions Records for Epidemiology and Surveillance, NSW Ministry of Health on 26 May​​ 2026​.
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Current as at: Wednesday 24 June 2026
Contact page owner: Communicable Diseases