UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Union Health Minister Shri J.P. Nadda Highlights India's Remarkable Progress in Reducing TB Mortality; Reiterates Resolve for TB-Mukt Bharat

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

  1. TB programmes, including India's, have moved patients with rifampicin-resistant TB onto the six-month all-oral BPaLM regimen partly because a shorter, injection-free course is easier for patients to complete.
  2. BPaLM works by restoring the susceptibility of resistant bacteria to rifampicin and isoniazid, so that first-line drugs can be resumed once the regimen ends.
  • 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 tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. A person who has TB disease but no symptoms cannot transmit TB, because transmission requires active coughing.
  2. TB infection without disease and asymptomatic TB disease are the same condition, since in neither case does the person feel sick.
  3. Only a minority of people infected with TB, roughly 5–10%, eventually develop TB disease.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 3 only
  • D. 1 only

Q3. Under India's intensified TB Mukt Bharat campaigns, vulnerable groups were systematically screened using tools such as AI-enabled hand-held chest X-rays. About 48.6 lakh TB cases were detected, of which nearly 15 lakh had no symptoms at the time of detection. Which of the following inferences can validly be drawn from the above?

  1. Cases detected without symptoms could safely be left untreated until symptoms appear.
  2. A strategy that relied only on people reporting symptoms at health facilities would have missed a sizeable share of these cases.
  3. TB incidence in India must have risen during the campaign period, since more cases were detected.
  4. Imaging-based screening can identify probable TB in people who do not report any symptoms.
  • A. 2, 3 and 4 only
  • B. 2 and 4 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 4 only
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q4. With reference to indicators used to track progress against tuberculosis, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Under the SDG framework, TB incidence is tracked as new cases per 1,00,000 population rather than as an absolute number of cases.
  2. A decline in the TB mortality rate over a period necessarily implies a decline of similar size in TB incidence over that period.
  3. A high treatment success rate among patients started on treatment shows that most people who fall ill with TB in the community are being detected.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 only

Q5. Suppose a country reports that, compared with 2015 levels, its TB deaths have fallen by 38% and its TB incidence by 21%. Measured against the 2030 targets of the WHO End TB Strategy, which of the following correctly assesses its position?

  • A. It has covered a larger share of the required reduction in deaths than in incidence
  • B. It has met neither target, because both targets require the same 50% reduction
  • C. It has already achieved the 2030 target for deaths, though not the target for incidence
  • D. It has covered a larger share of the required reduction in incidence than in deaths

Q6. With reference to the distribution of legislative subjects in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 'Public health and sanitation; hospitals and dispensaries' is an entry in the State List.
  2. Prevention of the extension of infectious or contagious diseases from one State to another is an entry in the Union List.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 2 only
  • C. Both 1 and 2
  • D. Neither 1 nor 2

Q7. Consider the following assertion: Pairing nutritional support with anti-TB treatment is a rational strategy for TB control in India. Which of the statements given below support/supports the above assertion?

  1. People with TB infection who have not developed TB disease are generally not contagious.
  2. Undernutrition weakens immunity, increasing the likelihood that TB infection progresses to active disease.
  3. TB treatment runs over several months, during which loss of income and inadequate diet can lead patients to abandon treatment.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 2 only