March 24 of each year is World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The theme of World TB Day 2023 is ‘Yes! We can end TB!’. The date marked the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
What to know about TB?
Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease that is a major cause of ill health and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Worldwide, TB is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 (above HIV/AIDS).
TB is caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is spread when people who are sick with TB expel bacteria into the air (e.g. by coughing). About a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB. The vast majority have no signs or symptoms of TB disease and are not infectious, although they are at risk of developing active TB disease and becoming infectious. Several studies have shown that in recent decades, on average, 5–10% of those infected will develop active TB disease over the course of their lives, usually within the first 5 years after initial infection. The disease typically affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can affect other sites as well.
About WHO’s End TB Strategy
In 2014 and 2015, all Member States of WHO and the United Nations (UN) committed to ending the TB epidemic, through their adoption of WHO’s End TB Strategy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The strategy included milestones in 2025, for large reductions in the TB incidence rate, the absolute number of TB deaths and costs faced by TB patients and their households. However, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a damaging impact on access to TB diagnosis and treatment and the burden of TB disease, progress made in the years up to 2019 has slowed, stalled or reversed, and global TB targets are off track. Intensified efforts backed by every one of us are urgently required to mitigate and reverse the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB.
Fig.1. WHO’s End TB Strategy:2025 milestones
TB Global burden
In 2021, an estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with TB worldwide. Six million men, 3.4 million women and 1.2 million children. A total of 1.6 million people died from TB in 2021. Geographically, in 2021, most people who developed TB were in the WHO regions of South-East Asia (45%), Africa (23%) and the Western Pacific (18%), with smaller proportions in the Eastern Mediterranean (8.1%), the Americas (2.9%) and Europe (2.2%). The 30 high TB-burden countries accounted for 87% of all estimated incident cases worldwide. Eight of these countries (Fig. 2) accounted for more than two-thirds of the global total: India (28%), Indonesia (9.2%), China (7.4%), the Philippines (7.0%), Pakistan (5.8%), Nigeria (4.4%), Bangladesh (3.6%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.9%).
Fig.2. Estimated TB incidence in 2021, for countries with at least 100 000 incident cases
Note: The countries that rank first to eighth in terms of the number of cases, and that accounted for about two-thirds of global cases in 2021, are labeled.
TB can affect anyone, regardless of age or sex (Fig. 3). The highest burden is in adult men, who accounted for 56.5% of all TB cases in 2021; by comparison, adult women accounted for 32.5% and children for 11% of cases.
Fig.3. Global estimates of TB incidence (black outline) and case notifications of people newly diagnosed with TB disaggregated by age and sex (female in purple; male in green), 2021
What BioPerfectus can provide to end TB?
TB is present in all countries and age groups but it is curable and preventable. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for the effective control of the TB epidemic. Since 2000, an estimated 74 million lives have been saved through TB diagnosis and treatment. Today, we are proud to launch the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Real Time PCR Kit. The kit is intended for the in-vitro qualitative detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) in human sputum samples, contributing to the confirmatory diagnosis of TB and preventing the further spread of the disease.
Dedicated to providing laboratories with comprehensive tests of respiratory infections, BioPerfectus provides the Total PCR Solution with instruments and kits. Pioneering the field of molecular diagnostics, BioPerfectus consistently pursues excellence, embraces innovation, and remains dedicated to addressing health challenges faced by humanity in pursuit of a healthier future.
References
[1]Global tuberculosis report 2021. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240037021).
[2]Global tuberculosis report 2022. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022 (https://www.who.int/teams/global-tuberculosis-programme/tb-reports/global-tuberculosis-report-2022).
[3]Global tuberculosis report 2021. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240037021).
[4]Methods used by WHO to estimate the global burden of TB disease. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021 (https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/methods-used-by-who-to-estimate-the-global-burden-of-tb-disease).
[5] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis
