The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that tuberculosis has surpassed COVID-19 as the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
In a Tuesday press release, the WHO shared a new report that showed roughly 8.2 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2023, representing the “highest number recorded” since the organization started global monitoring for tuberculosis in 1995.
The WHO said, “This represents a notable increase from 7.5 million reported in 2022, placing TB again as the leading infectious disease killer in 2023, surpassing COVID-19.”
According to the WHO, tuberculosis caused 1.25 million deaths in 2023. Prior to the resurgence of tuberculosis as the “leading infectious disease killer,” COVID-19 had been the world’s deadliest infectious disease for three years in a row.
The WHO noted that the Global Tuberculosis Report 2024 reveals “mixed progress” in the “global fight” against the infectious disease. The organization highlighted challenges, such as underfunding, that make it difficult to reduce the number of deaths caused by tuberculosis.
WHO officials said, “While the number of TB-related deaths decreased from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million in 2023, the total number of people falling ill with TB rose slightly to an estimated 10.8 million in 2023.”
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Addressing the number of infections and deaths caused by tuberculosis, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it. WHO urges all countries to make good on the concrete commitments they have made to expand the use of those tools, and to end TB.”
According to the WHO, tuberculosis is a preventable and treatable disease that is caused by bacteria that usually affects a person’s lungs. The bacteria can be spread by infected individuals coughing or sneezing.
While approximately 25% of people are believed to have been infected with the tuberculosis bacteria, only 5% to 10% typically display symptoms and develop a tuberculosis infection, according to the WHO.
Masae Kawamura, M.D., a former Tuberculosis control director and clinician, told Fox News, “If you breathe, you can catch TB — so all people are at risk.” Kawamura also described tuberculosis as a “social disease of crowding and mobility.”
According to the WHO, tuberculosis infections can cause people to experience symptoms such as chest pain, coughing, fatigue, weakness, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. Tuberculosis can also cause issues with an individual’s spine, kidneys, brain, and skin.
“TB can affect any organ of the body, but it causes disease in the lung in over 80% of cases,” Kawamura told Fox News. “This is dangerous because it causes cough, the mechanism of airborne spread.”
