UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Towards a TB-Free India

Q1. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Giving TB Preventive Treatment to people who are infected with TB bacteria but have no symptoms can reduce the number of future TB cases.
  2. Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis can persist without causing illness and progress to active disease at a later time.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q2. With reference to drug-resistant tuberculosis, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Multidrug-resistant TB is defined by resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most effective first-line drugs.
  2. Regimens for drug-resistant TB such as BPaLM rely on drugs like bedaquiline and linezolid in place of the two main first-line drugs.
  3. Because MDR-TB resists the main first-line drugs, its treatment necessarily lasts longer than eighteen months.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q3. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Support provided by Ni-kshay Mitras is a statutory entitlement of every notified TB patient and is credited through Direct Benefit Transfer.
  2. Under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, individuals, NGOs and corporates can adopt TB patients to provide them nutritional support.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q4. With reference to the WHO End TB Strategy and the idea of disease elimination, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The End TB Strategy aims to protect all TB-affected families from catastrophic costs by 2030.
  2. A country declared to have eliminated a disease as a public health problem is necessarily free of that disease's pathogen.
  3. The End TB Strategy's 2030 targets require the number of new TB cases to fall to zero.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 only

Q5. With reference to the gap between estimated and notified TB cases in India, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The gap arises only from people with TB who never seek medical care.
  2. Incentives to private providers for notifying cases help narrow the gap, since patients treated privately can otherwise go uncounted.
  3. Making notification on the Ni-kshay portal a condition for receiving nutrition payments gives patients and providers a reason to get cases recorded.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 3 only

Q6. With reference to undernutrition and tuberculosis, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Undernutrition raises the likelihood that a person infected with TB bacteria develops active disease.
  2. Extra nutrition for underweight patients in the early months of treatment aims to improve their recovery and treatment outcomes.
  3. Adequate nutrition support allows the anti-TB drug course of an underweight patient to be shortened.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 1 and 2 only
  • D. 1 only

Q7. A district applying for sub-national TB-free certification reports a sharp fall in notified TB cases. The certification process nevertheless also relies on community surveys and on data about sales of anti-TB drugs. Which of the following statements justify this approach?

  1. A fall in notifications can reflect weaker case detection rather than a real fall in disease.
  2. People with latent TB infection must be notified as TB cases, which inflates notification counts.
  3. Data on sales of anti-TB drugs can reveal patients treated privately whose cases were never notified.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3