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Tuberculosis deaths rise for 1st time in years, due to COVID

LONDON (AP) - The number of people killed by tuberculosis has risen for the first time in more than a decade, largely because fewer people got tested and treated as resources were diverted to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said.

In its yearly report on TB released on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said 1.5 million people worldwide died of the bacterial disease last year, a slight rise from the 1.4 million deaths in 2019. Evidence of the ancient disease has been found in Egyptian mummies and it's believed to have killed more people in history than any other infectious illness; TB routinely kills more people every year than AIDS and malaria.

The WHO also said far fewer people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2020; 5.8 million versus 7.1 million in 2019. The agency also estimates that about 4 million people suffer from TB but have yet to be diagnosed, a rise from 2.9 million people the previous year.

The disease is caused by a bacterium that often infects the lungs and is highly transmissible when those sickened by it cough or sneeze. About one quarter of the world's population has a latent TB infection, meaning they carry the bacterium, but haven't become ill and can't transmit it. Those who harbor the bacterium have a 5 to 10% chance of eventually developing TB.

The disease is treatable if caught early, but drug-resistant versions have complicated treatment efforts and scientists are increasingly worried the bacterium will soon outpace available medicines. The countries with the highest numbers of TB cases include India, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.

'œWe cannot accept that year after year, 1.5 million people die from the curable disease TB because they do not have access to the diagnostics and drugs that can save their lives,'ť said Stijn Deborggraev, diagnostics adviser for Doctors Without Borders' Access campaign. In a statement, Deborggraev said access to testing was limited in many countries with high numbers of TB patients because they depend on tests made by the American company Cepheid, which he claimed was overcharging poorer countries for their tests.

He said Cepheid had received more than $250 million in public investment to develop its TB testing technology and has failed to make it accessible to those who need it most.

The company says they have made their test cartridges available to poorer countries 'œat low margin'ť and says they are 'œan active participant in the global fight against TB.'ť

The WHO noted that global investment into TB efforts had dropped and said global efforts to meet targets in reducing the numbers of people affected by the disease 'œappear increasingly out of reach.'ť

FILE- In this March 24, 2018 file photo, a tuberculosis patient sits on a bed at a TB hospital in Gauhati, India. The number of people killed by tuberculosis has risen for the first time in more than a decade, largely because fewer people got tested and treated as resources were diverted to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said in a report released Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File) The Associated Press
FILE - In this May 28, 2020 file photo, people gather as the body of a man who died of a non-coronavirus related issue is loaded into the back of a hearse, at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) clinic in the Mathare slum, or informal settlement, of Nairobi, Kenya. The number of people killed by tuberculosis has risen for the first time in more than a decade, largely because fewer people got tested and treated as resources were diverted to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said in a report released Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, file) The Associated Press
FILE - In this April 30, 2020 file photo, a volunteer directs two men towards a medical tent where they will be tested for COVID-19 as well as HIV and Tuberculosis, in downtown Johannesburg. The number of people killed by tuberculosis has risen for the first time in more than a decade, largely because fewer people got tested and treated as resources were diverted to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said in a report released Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, file) The Associated Press
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