The concentration of tuberculosis within Paraguay’s incarcerated and Indigenous populations, 2018-2022

Abstract While incidence of tuberculosis (TB) has decreased globally, in Paraguay, considered a medium-incidence country by the WHO, TB incidence has increased slightly from 42 per 100,000 in 2010 to 46 per 100,000 in 2022. We conducted a retrospective study of TB cases notified to the Paraguay National Program for Tuberculosis Control (NPTC) from 2018 to 2022 and quantified trends in specific populations identified as vulnerable. Of the 13,725 TB cases notified in Paraguay from 2018 to 2022, 2,331 (17%) occurred among incarcerated individuals and 1,743 (12.7%) occurred among self-identified Indigenous individuals. In 2022, the relative risk of TB was 87 and 6.4 among the incarcerated and Indigenous populations, compared with the non-incarcerated and non-Indigenous populations respectively. We found significant heterogeneity in TB incidence across Paraguay’s 17 departments. Our findings highlight the urgency of expanding access to TB diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in populations at heightened risk of TB in Paraguay.