Tuberculosis is once again the world's biggest infectious killer due to the lack of focus on rooting out the disease.
Mel Spigelman, president of the non-profit Tuberculosis Alliance, hailed the rapid and dramatic progress to rein in the COVID-19 pandemic, with a vast array of safe and effective vaccines, tests, and treatments developed in the space of two years.
He said in a recent interview that the juxtaposition with the disease was stark.
1.5 million people die from Tuberculosis each year, making it the world's largest infectious killer.
The dubious distinction has been regained with global COVID-19 deaths steadily declining.
The annual death rate from Tuberculosis is 4,109 people a day, according to the TB Alliance, a non-profit working to develop and deliver drugs against the disease.
Deaths due to COVID-19 are calculated from the 40,578 deaths reported in the last 28 days.
There isn't much interest in taking on the disease.
Tuberculosis hospitals were taken over for COVID-19 care and patients were not allowed to come in for diagnosis and care due to the impact of the Pandemic.
The number of deaths from the disease increased for the first time in a decade.
We went from being unbelievably slow progress, but at least progress, to a reversal.
He said that it had been a big blow.
Billions of dollars were being thrown at the COVID-19 fight, but the global economy and tensions in the Middle East caused top donors to tighten their purse strings.
Most of the donors suddenly couldn't commit more than a year of funding at a time and the amount of funding was slashed.
Spigelman is concerned that the progress that has been made could be further eroded.
Drug-resistant Tuberculosis is being treated with a revolution.
Approximately five percent of the 10 million people who contract Tuberculosis each year are resistant to antibiotics.
The situation with drug-resistant Tuberculosis was horrible until recently.
Patients were forced to take five to eight pills a day for up to two years with horrible side effects and a cure rate of less than 30 percent.
The US Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug regimen that consists of just three pills a day for six months and has a cure rate of 90 percent.
It will be an amazing game-changer.
He pointed out that resources were needed to roll out the new regimen to the patients who needed it.
Resources are in short supply with Tuberculosis.
Spigelman said that it was a disease of the poor and that there was no need to get rid of it.
If rich people were getting it, we would see a different response.
There have been no attempts to roll out easy testing for candidate vaccines against Tuberculosis with no funding available to do so.
Spigelman said that with the right amount of resources, the disease could be eradicated.
It could be eliminated if the resources were there.
Agence France- Presse.
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