The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the alarm about soaring cases of tuberculosis (TB) around the world.
Last year, more than eight million people were newly diagnosed with the condition, the highest number since monitoring began in 1995, WHO said.
While TB-related deaths did fall last year from 1.32 million to 1.25 million, the total number of people falling ill with TB rose, a report said.
This means the world is not on track for international targets to reduce the burden of TB by 2027 and elimination by 2035, it added.
There is also ongoing concern about multidrug-resistant TB which the WHO described in the report as a ‘public health crisis’.
Treatment success rates for multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant TB have now reached 68%.
But, of the 400 000 people estimated to have developed it, only 44% were diagnosed and treated in 2023, the report found.
Global funding for TB prevention and care decreased further in 2023 and remains far below target, it added with low- and middle-income countries bearing 98% of the TB burden.
India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.8%) and Pakistan (6.3%) together accounted for 56% of the global TB burden, it said.
Earlier this year, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was investigating an 11% rise in TB cases in England.
There were 4,850 tuberculosis cases in 2023 compared to 4,380 in 2022, representing a jump of 10.7%, according to provisional data.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, TB incidence was lower than this, with 4,615 cases in 2018 and 4,725 cases in 2019, UKHSA figures showed.
Some of the increase related to people born outside the UK, but in 2023 the rise was also seen in UK-born individuals, they noted.
Speaking on the findings of the latest WHO report, Dr Tereza Kasaeva, director of WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Programme said there was a multitude of formidable challenges including ‘funding shortfalls and catastrophic financial burden on those affected, climate change, conflict, migration and displacement, pandemics and drug-resistant tuberculosis, a significant driver of antimicrobial resistance’.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added: ‘The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it.’
Dr Esther Robinson, head of the TB Unit at UKHSA, is encouraging people to speak to a healthcare professional if they think they could be at risk of TB.
‘TB is curable and preventable, but the disease remains a serious public health issue in the UK,‘ she said.
‘It is very important that those with relevant symptoms are tested for TB and appropriate treatment is started promptly. Not every persistent cough, along with a fever, is caused by flu or Covid-19.
‘A cough that usually has mucus and lasts longer than three weeks can be caused by a range of other issues, including TB.’
A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication Pulse.
