Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria that spread through the air. Infections may occur when a person with infected lungs or throat speaks, coughs or sneezes. People with both COVID and Tuberculosis infections may have poorer treatment outcomes, especially if their TB treatment pauses. Global TB deaths are believed to be on the increase. NPR News reports this is collateral damage from the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Two Deadliest Infectious Diseases in the World Collaborate
Tuberculosis was the deadliest infectious disease in the world before COVID-19 burst on an unsuspecting population. Health workers were making slow but steady progress to contain it. However, it is now rising for the first time in a decade.
The evidence is in the numbers with 1.5 million tuberculosis deaths in 2020, compared to 1.4 million in 2019. ‘The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress and efforts in the fight against tuberculosis.’ So says Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, who is head of WHO’s global TB program.
Kasaeva told a media conference on October 15, 2021 how COVID and Tuberculosis feed each other. TB makes lungs more susceptible to the coronavirus. While pandemic lockdowns and pandemic fear limit tuberculosis patient access to health care, and pop up medical clinics.
COVID and Tuberculosis Strike South Africa Hard
NPR’s Jason Beaubien called University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg where he spoke to tuberculosis researcher Dr. Francesca Conradie. Now Conradie manages three clinical research sites for tuberculosis patients in the countryside.
The number of TB cases declined during, and after the first March 2020 lockdown, she told him. However, those are the diagnosed cases. There may be more, but we don’t know because many South Africans ceased seeking medical care.
The number of TB cases continues to be below pre-COVID levels, she admits. ‘But I do not think for one second that it’s because we’ve cured the problem. I think it’s because people are no longer presenting to clinics’.
Nowadays TB patients are more likely to be severely diseased, having delayed a hospital visit as long as they could. ‘Even if the coronavirus disappeared tomorrow,’ Conradie says ‘the damage has already been done’.
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