Even as the country chases its goal of eliminating tuberculosis (TB), a particular complexity — silico-TB, a condition when patients suffer from both TB and silicosis or lung scarring because of exposure to silica dust — is posing challenges. A new study that tracked 137 silico-tuberculosis and 2,605 TB-only patients in Gujarat’s Khambhat found that the former group’s chances of survival was 2.75 times lesser than those suffering from just TB.