WHO reports rise in global TB cases , Deaths

The latest report on tuberculosis from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the negative trends that began with the COVID-19 pandemic continue.

The 2022 Global TB Report, released today by the WHO, shows an estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with TB in 2021

an increase of 4.5% from 2020 and the first time in nearly two decades that the number of people sickened by the respiratory disease globally has increased.

 TB deaths were also up in 2021, rising to 1.7 million from 1.6 million in 2020.

In the years prior to the pandemic, though TB was still the world's leading infectious disease killer (a title it has ceded to COVID-19), incidence and deaths had been steadily declining.

The number of people receiving preventive treatment was 3.5 million people in 2021, a rebound from 3.2 million 2020 but still below pre-pandemic levels.