tuberculosis deaths are increasing for the first time in 15 years — and it’s because of covid.
things seem to be getting worse since the world health organization (who) rang the alarm
in a report in november
. at the time, it cited approximately 1.5 million tuberculosis deaths worldwide in 2020 — the first time tuberculosis deaths had risen since 2005.
while it’s easy to think of tuberculosis as an illness of the past, it’s still the leading cause of death from infectious disease. cases began to rise during the aids crisis in the 1980s, when many aids patients were unable to fight off the infection because of their compromised immune systems. while north american cases began to decrease again the mid-90s,
according to the mayo clinic
, it remains common in many parts of africa, asia and latin america. sixty per cent of worldwide tuberculosis cases are in just six countries: india, indonesia, china, nigeria, pakistan and south africa.
tb is the leading cause of death from infectious disease
tb primarily infects the lungs. like covid, it’s transmitted from tiny droplets in the air. there is no effective adult vaccine for tb, and part of what can make it deadly is that many strains are antibiotic-resistant.
the
november report
found that treatment for people with covid resulted in treating fewer tb patients. and while fewer people were diagnosed with or treated for tb, more people died from it, which, according to the who, seems to indicate a lack of access to medical care.