Axios
WHO: Pandemic extends the countdown to stop TB
Several organizations, including the World Health Organization, say early data suggests there could be a significant increase in diseases such as tuberculosis in the coming years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. lost in the past 12 months of the pandemic – jeopardizing the goal of eradicating the disease by 2030, some experts say. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. What’s Happening: Steps taken to reduce the contagious spread of COVID-19, such as wearing a mask, social distancing, and immobilisation or reduced mobility, have had a mixed effect on other diseases. They have led to a decrease in other respiratory illnesses, such as the flu, but they have also prevented people from visiting non-coronavirus to doctors and clinics for disease testing and immunizations. “I go to the clinic for care for fear of getting COVID-19 or because travel is limited due to lockdowns,” said William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University. in Senegal, for example, there was an almost 80% drop in prenatal visits from mothers and children under 5 during the first months of the pandemic, “which was really scary to watch,” said Aminatou Sar, West Africa hub and Senegal country director for the nonprofit PATH. And the pandemic’s challenges to programs to combat mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue are a cause for concern, although experts await its overall impact. Tuberculosis is likely to increase in the aftermath of the pandemic, the WHO warned this week for World TB Day. The bacterial lung disease, which typically claims about 4,000 lives a day worldwide, is likely to have killed more than half a million people by 2020 because they couldn’t get the care they needed, according to the WHO. “We’re running out of time. The clock is ticking, and it’s time for urgent action to end tuberculosis,” Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO’s global TB program, said at a press conference announcing their preliminary findings. WHO has also issued new guidelines for tuberculosis testing to regularly monitor those at high risk of infection. WHO recommends that COVID-19 and TB testing be conducted simultaneously in high-risk countries, Kasaeva said. The average 23% decline in the diagnosis and treatment of TB patients last year is a serious problem as 1 million untreated people with TB could lead to about 15 million new infections by 2021, says Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, a UN-hosted entity. “It’s like a snowball effect.” ‘1 million [untreated people with TB] actually brings us to the figure we had 12 years ago, “says Ditiu. She expects to see an” explosion “of community-based TB.” What we’re already seeing are more advanced stages of TB at home, because people don’t. “Wanting to go to hospital, Ditiu says, leading to more reports of people with lung cavities coughing blood. Yes, but: a positive outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic, which mandates mask wearing in healthcare, is “I have no doubt that in 2020 and 2021 we will see very few, if any, cases of TB among health workers through the masks,” says Ditiu. Meanwhile, an increase in preventable childhood diseases is also a concern, with WHO and UNICEF issuing an emergency call last year to prevent and control measles and polio outbreaks. The number of vaccinations in some countries fell during the pandemic crisis, according to the WHO. Thus, the CDC warned in April. Last year, more than 117 million children suffered measles alone – a disease that had already seen a 556% increase in cases between 2016 and 2019, with a 50% increase over that period. “We are really worried that when we deal with this pandemic, there will be a big backlash to the progress we have already made in other areas,” Sar tells Axios. However, she adds that it is “never too late” to catch up with vaccination schedules and promote a stronger health care system in preparation for the next pandemic. The mRNA vaccine technology underlying some COVID-19 vaccines is being used to further develop TB vaccines. And the TB Alliance says unprecedented progress has been made in clinical testing of a new treatment regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis. Go Deeper: Vaccinations Plummet Amid a Coronavirus Pandemic Pandemic Disruption to Key Health Procedures Could Turn Deadly More From Axios: Sign Up To Get The Latest Market Trends With Axios Markets. Sign up for free