30,000 TB cases are reported annually in Morocco

Around 30,000 Tuberculosis (TB) cases are still recorded annually in Morocco despite the serious efforts made by the competent authorities to eradicate the plague, a senior Moroccan health official said lately at a regional meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) held in Lebanon.

TB cases regress annually by 5% thanks to the national program launched in 1996, the Moroccan physician added, noting that efforts will be carried to eliminate the disease in the few coming years.

Nearly half of the reported cases are pulmonary tuberculosis while

70% of the TB-patients are aged between 15 and 45 years old, the same source said.

According to the latest figures released by the world health organization, about 9 million persons contract annually the killer TB virus in the world and three million die of the disease.

In line with the WHO recommendations, Morocco set up lately a large network of TB-detection labs and centers which helped to identify and treat on time several early cases.