Tuberculosis is the most fatal infectious disease in the world. "Every hour, 30 people in the European Region are diagnosed with the bacterial infectious disease TBC," according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the EU's prevention authority ECDC. This means that the number of new cases is declining. Nevertheless, experts can not give the all-clear.
"Although tuberculosis is an ancient, preventable and curable disease, it still causes too much suffering and the deaths of many people in the EU and beyond," said Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. The report looked at data from 53 European countries, including countries like Turkey and Uzbekistan. According to the report, 275,000 new diagnoses and relapses have been registered in the investigated region in 2017.
Increasing resistance
Tuberculosis is curable with antibiotics, but the pathogens are developing more and more resistance to the drugs. 77,000 people in Europe suffered from difficult-to-treat, multi-drug resistant TB. That the drugs stop working is an increasing challenge, according to the report. Most countries have problems treating their patients successfully.
There were 55,337 cases of TB in the 31 countries of the EU and the European Economic Area (including Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland). There were only just over 1000 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis registered. "Since the load in the region varies widely, approaches need to be adapted from country to country," said ECDC Director Andrea Ammon.
The aim is to eradicate the disease in Europe by 2030. A prerequisite for this, however, is a correct and rapid diagnosis. "The sooner a patient is diagnosed, the faster he can be treated and the transmission of the disease prevented," the report said.
Worldwide, around 1.6 million people died of tuberculosis in 2017, more than AIDS and malaria combined. According to estimates, about one-quarter to one-third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis bacteria. But only at five to ten percent, the bacteria in the body spread so much that sufferers fall ill and a treatment is necessary. Most often, the lungs are affected. If the bacteria then reach the outside when breathing, coughing or sneezing, the people are contagious. Without treatment almost half of the patients die.
In Germany, 5429 people contracted tuberculosis last year, reports the Robert Koch Institute. Thus, the number has remained constant compared to previous years. To eradicate the disease, however, a decrease of ten percent is necessary. That is why additional efforts are needed in Germany as well. Although there are modern diagnostic procedures and effective drugs in this country. However, the disease is often diagnosed too late. Health authorities would have to be informed faster about possible infections in order to be able to stem the disease as quickly as possible.