NEW DELHI -- India has made "exemplary progress" in the fight against tuberculosis, Leopold Blanc, coordinator of the tuberculosis operations and strategy cell of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Saturday. The WHO said a 40-member team of experts had found that India's tuberculosis control program had achieved the "fastest expansion with quality in the world."

"In less than five years, there has been exemplary progress and a random survey of 20 tuberculosis centers across India showed that the disease was being properly diagnosed, drugs were available and the monitoring was good," said Blanc.

Currently, 4.5 million Indians have tuberculosis, a fourth of the estimated global cases, AFP reported.

India says it is detecting 70 percent of estimated tuberculosis cases across the country, up from 30 percent five years ago.

It uses the established DOTS program, by which visitors to clinics with tubercular symptoms are given a spit test and offered a standard six-to-eight-month course of treatment if the disease is confirmed.

"We have prevented 350,000 deaths and detected 70 percent of all new cases which is much higher than the global average of 66 percent," said L.S Chauhan, who heads India's state-run 6.8-billion-rupee (145-million-dollar) tuberculosis control program.

"Tuberculosis is an entirely curable disease and we are doing everything in our power to spread the word," added Chauhan.

The 22 countries most affected by tuberculosis are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, says WHO.