For the first time on over a decade, global tuberculosis deaths have increased, according to the World Health Organization.
Approximately 1.5 million died from the disease – an infectious bacterial disease that mainly impacts the lungs – last year worldwide, said the WHO.
According to a March report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, incidence of TB in the U.S.
was 20 percent lower in 2020 compared to 2019. It said the decrease could be from reduced transmission or undetected cases.
Overall, the U.S. has one of the lowest global TB rates. Most of the global increase occurred in 30 countries, according to the WHO. Hotspots for the disease were India, Indonesia, the Philippines and China.
Years of progress regarding TB mortality worldwide were reversed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said the organization. Far fewer people diagnosed, treated, or provided with preventative TB treatments last year compared with 2019 and overall spending decreased, data in a WHO report showed.
Those resources were instead spent on COVID-19 response.
“Challenges with providing and accessing essential TB services have meant that many people with TB were not diagnosed in 2020,” said the WHO. “The number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.”
Lockdowns across the world to prevent people from spreading COVID-19 also prevented people with TB from getting medical care. WHO estimates indicate that around 4.1 million people currently suffer from the disease but have not been diagnosed, up from approximately 2.9 million in 2019.
Amid the pandemic, fewer people had access to the types of preventative measures that keep TB rates low in the U.S. According to the WHO, There was a 21 percent decrease in access to preventative treatment last year compared to 2019 and the number of people treated for drug-resistant TB fell by 15 percent.
“This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is alarming news that must serve as a global wake-up call to the urgent need for investments and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions of people affected by this ancient but preventable and treatable disease.”
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