The data is in the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2024 report on tuberculosis released this Tuesday and which indicates that 10.8 million became ill last year, a slight increase compared to the 10.7 million in 2022, but greater to 10.4 million in 2021 and 10.1 million in 2020, years with the highest incidence of Covid-19.
Although the number has been growing since 2020, the WHO concludes that the global increase in people becoming ill with tuberculosis, which began during the Covid-19 pandemic, has begun to slow down and stabilize.
"However, in 2023, tuberculosis is likely to once again be the world's leading cause of death due to a single infectious agent, after three years in which it was replaced by the coronavirus disease Covid-19, and has caused almost twice as many deaths as HIV/AIDS", warns the study.
According to WHO estimates, tuberculosis caused around 1.25 million deaths in 2023, including 161,000 people with HIV, compared to 1.32 million in 2022.
Without treatment, the mortality rate from tuberculosis is high, around 50%, but with the therapies currently recommended by the WHO, around 85% of people with tuberculosis can be cured, highlights the report, which has been published annually since 1997.
The document also indicates that, in 2023, five countries represented 56% of the global total of cases: India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), Philippines (6.8%) and Pakistan ( 6.3%) and that 55% of people who developed tuberculosis were men, 33% women and 12% children and adolescents.
By region, the majority of people who developed the disease in 2023 were found in Southeast Asia (45%), Africa (24%) and the Western Pacific (17%) and with lower percentages in the Eastern Mediterranean (8.6% ), in the Americas (3.2%) and in Europe (2.1%).
The net reduction in the global number of deaths between 2015 and 2023 was 23%, almost a third of the target set in the WHO strategy of a 75% decrease in deaths by 2025, with the most significant advances being recorded in the African and European regions .
Member States of the WHO and the UN have committed to putting an end to the disease epidemic, through the adoption of a strategy that foresees a 90% reduction in the number of deaths and an 80% reduction in the disease incidence rate by 2030, compared to 2015 levels.
"Ending tuberculosis remains a distant goal, but after serious setbacks during the worst years of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are several positive trends", highlights the WHO report.
The only vaccine licensed for prevention is made from bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), a weakened form of the bacteria that causes the disease, and was developed almost 100 years ago, making it possible to prevent serious forms of tuberculosis in children.
There is currently no licensed vaccine that is effective in preventing tuberculosis in adults, but several new vaccines with "promising results" are in advanced trials, says the WHO.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that is transmitted mainly by inhalation, that is, by inhaling droplets expelled by the sick person when coughing, talking or sneezing.
