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WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, and Pakistan account for more than half of the world’s cases.
More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track.
About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world’s top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023.
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WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, and Pakistan account for more than half of the world’s cases.
TB deaths continue to fall globally, however, and the number of people being newly infected is beginning to stabilize. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half were diagnosed and treated.
Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that mostly affect the lungs. Roughly a quarter of the global population is estimated to have TB, but only about 5–10% of those develop symptoms.
Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long called for the U.S. company Cepheid, which produces TB tests used in poorer countries, to make them available for USD 5 per test to increase availability.
