Research and analysis
Definitions
Published 4 September 2025
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| BCG | Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination |
| CI | Confidence interval. A 95% confidence interval is used throughout this report. |
| Cluster | Two or more people notified with TB caused by strains within a 12 SNP difference |
| CNS | Central nervous system |
| Cryptic disseminated tuberculosis | Systemic illness without localising features |
| First line drug resistance | First line anti-TB antibiotic resistance is defined as resistance to at least one of the first line antibiotics (isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide) |
| ICB | Integrated care board |
| IMD | The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 rank for each LSOA, based on deprivation score assigned, relative to other LSOAs in England |
| IQR | Interquartile range |
| LSOA | Lower super output area |
| LTBI | Latent TB infection |
| MDR | Multidrug resistance: people with TB initially resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin |
| Miliary TB | TB infection spread via the bloodstream to all parts of the body |
| Post-mortem diagnosis | A patient diagnosed at post-mortem is defined as where TB was not suspected before death, but a TB diagnosis was made at post-mortem, with pathological and/or microbiological findings consistent with active TB that would have warranted anti-TB treatment if discovered before death |
| Pulmonary tuberculosis | A pulmonary case is defined as a patient with TB involving the lungs and/or tracheobronchial tree, with or without extra-pulmonary TB diagnosis. In this report, in line with the WHO’s recommendation and international reporting definitions, miliary TB is classified as pulmonary TB due to the presence of lesions in the lungs |
| RR | Rifampicin resistant |
| Severe tuberculosis | Severe TB includes cases with CNS, spinal, cryptic and/or miliary TB |
| SNP | Single nucleotide polymorphism |
| SRF | Social risk factor |
| TB | Tuberculosis |
| UTLA | Upper tier local authority (geographic definition) |
| WGS | Whole genome sequencing |