Before Covid-19, it was the infectious disease that caused the most deaths in the world. That is no longer the case today. But with more than ten million people infected each year, the...World Day Covid-19 pandemic boosts TB cases According to WHO, tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease. © Getty Images - Vladimir Vladimirov Text by: RFI Follow 1 min Before Covid-19, it was the infectious disease that caused the most deaths in the world. That is no longer the case today. But with more than ten million people infected each year, TB continues to

World Day

Covid-19 pandemic boosts TB cases

According to WHO, tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease. © Getty Images - Vladimir Vladimirov

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Before Covid-19, it was the infectious disease that caused the most deaths in the world. That is no longer the case today. But with more than ten million people infected each year, TB continues to weigh on health systems. WHO is trying to remobilize troops on World TB Day.

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As a result of the pandemic, the number of cases of tuberculosis, an infectious disease that is transmitted through the air and most often affects the lungs, has started to rise again. A first in ten years, laments the head of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, who is concerned about the goal of eradicating tuberculosis by 2030. "Since 2000, TB deaths have dropped by 40 percent," he says. And yet, the disease still kills 1.6 million people each year and many more are infected.

Treatments too expensive

However, treatments do exist. But either they are not accessible to those who need them most because they are too expensive, or they are still in development. Sixteen new vaccines are also being tested. "We must make existing tools more accessible," says the WHO director. Butwe also need new ones. The only vaccine against tuberculosis, BCG, is more than a century old. And it does not protect teens and adults who account for most transmissions.

From this point of view, the decision of the Indian authorities not to extend Johnson & Johnson's patent on bedaquiline, a new molecule highly effective against resistant forms of tuberculosis, was welcomed by WHO and MSF. A generic version could be developed as early as this year.

In Senegal, the challenge of the "missing third", these patients who go under the radar

With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac

Eradicating tuberculosis in Senegal by 2035 "is possible," says Dr. Yacine Mar Diop, coordinator of the National Tuberculosis Control Program (PNT). Significant progress has been made in the country. According to 2022 statistics, nearly 15,000 cases have been diagnosed and put on treatment in the country. "The diagnostic network has been well strengthened, especially with rapid molecular tests that now allow you to get the diagnosis of TB in two days," she says. And another thing, we now have short, oral treatments. It's free treatment, screening is free.

But TB continues to kill: 420 deaths were recorded in 2021 among identified patients. Not to mention the undiagnosed patients, "the missing third", according to the doctor: "There are 28% of cases that we have not yet identified, laments the coordinator of the PNT. This is where the big challenge of screening lies. It is assumed that they die in the community without the knowledge of the health system. My main wish is that the whole community comes and engages in this fight against tuberculosis.

The program therefore wants to accelerate community screening interventions, to "get" patients and their contacts at home, hoping for new vaccines against the disease.

Covid-19 pandemic boosts TB cases

Covid-19 pandemic boosts TB cases

Treatments too expensive

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