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Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/ur...es-covid-as-biggest-killer-expert-01666491607
Urgency Lacking As TB Passes Covid As Biggest Killer: Expert
By Nina LARSON
October 22, 2022
Following gargantuan global efforts against Covid-19, tuberculosis is once again the world's biggest infectious killer, a top expert has told AFP, lamenting the lack of focus on rooting out TB.
Mel Spigelman, president of the non-profit TB Alliance, hailed the swift and dramatic progress to rein in the Covid pandemic, with a vast array of safe and effective vaccines, tests and treatments developed in the space of two years.
"But the juxtaposition with TB is pretty stark," he said in a recent interview.
Tuberculosis, once called consumption, was the world's biggest infectious killer before the arrival of Covid-19, with 1.5 million people dying from the disease each year.
With global Covid deaths steadily declining, "TB has regained the dubious distinction," Spigelman said.
The TB Alliance, a non-profit working to develop and deliver faster-acting and affordable drugs against the disease, especially in poorer countries, points out that based on the annual death rate, TB kills 4,109 people a day.
That compares to 1,449 people a day dying due to Covid, calculated from the 40,578 deaths reported in the past 28 days on the Johns Hopkins University dashboard.
But unlike Covid, there appears to be little, and even waning, interest in taking on TB...
In
Urgency Lacking As TB Passes Covid As Biggest Killer: Expert
By Nina LARSON
October 22, 2022
Following gargantuan global efforts against Covid-19, tuberculosis is once again the world's biggest infectious killer, a top expert has told AFP, lamenting the lack of focus on rooting out TB.
Mel Spigelman, president of the non-profit TB Alliance, hailed the swift and dramatic progress to rein in the Covid pandemic, with a vast array of safe and effective vaccines, tests and treatments developed in the space of two years.
"But the juxtaposition with TB is pretty stark," he said in a recent interview.
Tuberculosis, once called consumption, was the world's biggest infectious killer before the arrival of Covid-19, with 1.5 million people dying from the disease each year.
With global Covid deaths steadily declining, "TB has regained the dubious distinction," Spigelman said.
The TB Alliance, a non-profit working to develop and deliver faster-acting and affordable drugs against the disease, especially in poorer countries, points out that based on the annual death rate, TB kills 4,109 people a day.
That compares to 1,449 people a day dying due to Covid, calculated from the 40,578 deaths reported in the past 28 days on the Johns Hopkins University dashboard.
But unlike Covid, there appears to be little, and even waning, interest in taking on TB...
In