After two decades of unbroken decline, the death toll from tuberculosis is rising in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday.
In 2021, the lung disease killed 27,300 Europeans, up from 27,000 the year before, according to the latest available data. With an estimated 4,900 and 3,600 deaths respectively, Russia and Ukraine are the most affected countries.
A rising figure according to the WHO due to a relaxation of diagnoses during the confinements linked to Covid-19 as well as the spread of tuberculosis resistant to an antibiotic indicated against the disease. This is the first time in twenty years that the downward trend has been reversed, according to the WHO.
Less contaminations last year
In the 53 countries of the WHO European zone, which also covers Central Asia, some 230,000 people have contracted tuberculosis, caused by a bacterium that mainly attacks the lungs, a total that is still lower than in previous years.
“The increase in the number of TB deaths that we are seeing in 2021 is probably the consequence of a delayed or missed TB diagnosis due to the interruption of services (…) during the Covid-19 pandemic,” explained the WHO Europe.
An increase in deaths observed around the world
In addition, the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis has also increased significantly, with one in three cases of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis in 2021.
At the global level, the WHO had already expressed its concern in October about the increase, again for the first time in more than twenty years, of new cases of tuberculosis in the world in 2021.
Some 10.6 million people developed the disease worldwide that year, according to their data.
Source: BFM TV
