According to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis is once again the deadliest infectious disease in the world, after losing this sad title to Covid-19.
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Caused by pathogenic bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosisthe tuberculosis can now be treated effectively in around 85% of cases, but kills almost 50% of patients in the absence of treatment.
Based on data from 193 countries, the new analysis reveals that 1.25 million people died from tuberculosis in 2023, far eclipsing the 320,000 deaths caused by Covid-19 during the same period. Overall, 10.8 million cases of tuberculosis were recorded last year, compared to 10.7 million in 2022, 10.4 million in 2021 and 10.1 million in 2020, respectively.
In 2023, 87% of documented infections occurred in 30 countries, with India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan collectively accounting for 56% of the disease burden.
« Tuberculosis is a preventable and usually curable disease », specifies the report. “ However, in 2023, it once again became the leading global cause of death due to a single infectious agent, after three years during which it was supplanted by Covid-19, and caused almost twice as many deaths as HIV /AIDS. »
Ending the global epidemic by 2030
While the WHO believes that urgent action is needed to end the global tuberculosis epidemic by 2030, a goal that all UN member countries have committed to achieving, it notes ” several positive signs ».
Despite the return of the disease, the report mentions an overall downward trend in the number of related deaths for a number of years (with the exception of 2020 and 2021). Estimated at 1.34 million in 2019, it would reach 1.32 million in 2022.
Six new vaccines are currently undergoing phase III clinical trials, giving hope that new treatments will be brought to market over the next five years.
