Tuberculosis in Mine Workers: Advances in Current Diagnostic Landscape

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global infectious disease of significant public health importance. India remains the highest TB burden country accounting quarter of all worldwide TB cases. The mining industry in India constitutes a significant portion of its economic growth. However, mine workers are constantly under threat of acquiring TB disease due to several associated risk factors like poor living and working conditions, high prevalence of HIV and occupational diseases like pneumoconiosis. Although TB among miners has been recognized as public health emergency by researchers globally, it has remained neglected to date in India possibly due to lack of surveillance data. Early and rapid diagnosis of TB infection in miners is paramount for the success of clinical treatment and reducing the risk of TB transmission in mining communities. In the current chapter, we throw light on available TB diagnostic tools as well as the current landscape of diagnostic biomarkers and their clinical utility as effective diagnostic tools for TB in miners.