Is TB a common disease?

TB is an important infectious disease in Hong Kong. Every year there are about 4500 notified cases of TB in Hong Kong. About 0.6 out of every 1000 persons in Hong Kong develop the disease each year. This rate is about 10 times higher than that of other western developed countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Hong Kong is among the Western Pacific Region's areas listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having an intermediate burden of TB. In terms of life-time risk, about 1 out of every 20 persons in Hong Kong will develop TB during some time in their life. Hence, every one is at risk of being affected by the disease.