Tuberculosis has surpassed COVID-19 and is once again the most lethal infectious disease in 2023. Or at least that’s what the World Health Organization (WHO) this Tuesday: It has caused nearly 1.2 million deaths, well above the 320,000 from the coronavirus.
Despite this, The figure represents a slight decrease with respect to the global mortality from tuberculosis registered in 2022when it caused about 1.3 million deathsaccording to the information provided in its annual report on the incidence of this disease.
Factors to take into account
And what is it due to? Well, it is clear: to the restoration of the diagnosis and treatment systems against tuberculosis and other diseases, which had been diminished -even paralyzed- during the acute phase of the pandemic.
Instead, the research reflection a slight increase in the number of people who got sick from tuberculosis (both diagnosed for the first time and reinfected), going from the 10.6 million registered in 2022 to 10.8 million in 2023.
The report, broken down
By region, a 45% of these cases were diagnosed in Southeast Asia, a 24% in Africa and a 17% in East Asia and the Pacific, while they were recorded in a lower proportion in the Middle East and Maghreb (8.6%), America (3.2%) and Europe (2.1%).
Of the 10.8 million registered cases, 6 million occurred in adult men, 3.6 million in women and 1.3 million in children and adolescents. Some figures that have generated some debate on social networks, especially ‘X’.
Five countries accounted for more than half of the global tuberculosis burden: India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), Philippines (6.8%) and Pakistan (6.3%), which, the WHO has warned, shows that this disease continues to affect “disproportionately” to developing areas.
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