Date:June 24, 2020 Source: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine A new study estimates that at least 110,000 additional deaths from tuberculosis in China, India and South Africa unless health services maintained and strengthened.
The global COVID-19 pandemic could significantly increase the global burden of tuberculosis (TB) due to disruptions to health services, and delays to diagnosis and treatment, according to new estimates published in the European Respiratory Journal.
Before COVID-19, over 4,000 people were dying from TB every day. In countries where health services are strained, there is a fear that TB cases and deaths could rise significantly.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Lancaster University estimated additional TB deaths and cases in China, India and South Africa over the next five years. They examined the impact of various reductions in social contacts and impacts on health services due to COVID-19.
The researchers hypothesised that social distancing might reduce TB incidence as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria which causes the disease, is transmitted via droplets in the air -- similar to the coronavirus.
However, even after taking into account this potential reduced TB transmission, the most likely scenario was estimated to result in more than 110,000 additional TB deaths.
In the worst case scenario where the impact of COVID-19 on health services is severe, this number could rise to up to 200,000 additional deaths.
First author Dr Finn McQuaid, Assistant Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at LSHTM, said: "There is concern that the COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in decreased TB clinic attendance, delayed diagnosis and treatment. This is especially so in low- and middle-income countries where health services, or access to them, might be substantially disrupted. Early anecdotal information from China, India and South Africa suggests that the number of people being diagnosed and treated for TB has fallen significantly."
The team measured the effect of these factors on TB incidence and deaths in China, India and South Africa, three countries which make up approximately 40% of the global TB cases. They modelled different scenarios with various implementations of social distancing measures and health service disruption lasting for six months to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on global TB burden.
They found that if there is substantial health service disruption, such as a 50% reduction in TB cases detected and successfully treated, there would be an increase in both incidence and deaths from TB over the subsequent five years, regardless of the level of social contact.
The most probable scenario, based on the current information and distancing measures, suggests 6,000 additional deaths could occur in China, 95,000 in India and 13,000 in South Africa.
However, if social distancing measures are minimal and there is substantial health care disruption -- based on 80% reduction in case detection and treatment success -- the model predicts an 8-14% increase in cumulative deaths from TB over the next five years.
Dr McQuaid explained: "We need to act now to ensure innovative approaches to people-centric TB care are the focus, so that the fight to end this pandemic doesn't overwrite the hard-won gains made against this disease.
"Given that health service disruption far outweighs the benefit of social distancing, it is crucial to maintain and strengthen TB-related health services during, and after, COVID-19.
"It is also important to note that the decline of health services is likely to have a greater impact on drug-resistance TB patients,
Smoking increases the risk of recurrent TB and also impairs the response to the treatment, but there is hardly any awareness campaign about this deadly combination.
Ya, TB is no joke, and there's a lot of things not getting the proper attention while the health services are struggling with COVID. Its a terrible dilemma. :(
raphael119washington d.c., District of Columbia USA5,181 posts
People endlessly whining about masks and social distancing . Making them victims of social injustice.
Little mention of income loss, death, disability.
Wait til a real plague hits or antibiotic resistant killer germs. Maybe Covid will get so out of hand here Hospitals will begin turning away the dying? Its just around the corner.
I sure hope that vaccine isn't just crap from big Pharma, its happened with them many times.
Medicine is winning the war we are on the cusp of all living until 100 easy peasy.
Which is why they're trying to implement a form of rationing to destroy healthcare for the rank and file. Their aiming at a sustainable eternal life for the 1% through mass murder.
Each and every death is tragedy and I know covid is not a fake - but it is a wild exaggeration a fear overstated because a great many of us are a virgin.
What isn't an exaggeration is to say that more people will die from suicide alone. This is the hellish destination of good intentions. A billion people live on the breadline what do we say to that? Let them eat cake
The elites are freezing their bodies and their brains inside jars under the prospect that one day there corpse will be reanimated. The world is run by a clique of ghouls, vampires who want to eat the young, destroy family and anything from the natural cycle of life death. They want the natural population halved by 2100 to create space for the eternal corpses.
ChesneyChrist: The elites are freezing their bodies and their brains inside jars under the prospect that one day there corpse will be reanimated. The world is run by a clique of ghouls, vampires who want to eat the young, destroy family and anything from the natural cycle of life death. They want the natural population halved by 2100 to create space for the eternal corpses.
Lockdown is just a taste of what it feels to be a living corpse. Its song is Sound and Vision by David Bowie. Pale blinds drawn on day nothing to do, nothing to say. A state of purgatory on earth.
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Source: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
A new study estimates that at least 110,000 additional deaths from tuberculosis in China, India and South Africa unless health services maintained and strengthened.
The global COVID-19 pandemic could significantly increase the global burden of tuberculosis (TB) due to disruptions to health services, and delays to diagnosis and treatment, according to new estimates published in the European Respiratory Journal.
Before COVID-19, over 4,000 people were dying from TB every day. In countries where health services are strained, there is a fear that TB cases and deaths could rise significantly.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Lancaster University estimated additional TB deaths and cases in China, India and South Africa over the next five years. They examined the impact of various reductions in social contacts and impacts on health services due to COVID-19.
The researchers hypothesised that social distancing might reduce TB incidence as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria which causes the disease, is transmitted via droplets in the air -- similar to the coronavirus.
However, even after taking into account this potential reduced TB transmission, the most likely scenario was estimated to result in more than 110,000 additional TB deaths.
In the worst case scenario where the impact of COVID-19 on health services is severe, this number could rise to up to 200,000 additional deaths.
First author Dr Finn McQuaid, Assistant Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at LSHTM, said: "There is concern that the COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in decreased TB clinic attendance, delayed diagnosis and treatment. This is especially so in low- and middle-income countries where health services, or access to them, might be substantially disrupted. Early anecdotal information from China, India and South Africa suggests that the number of people being diagnosed and treated for TB has fallen significantly."
The team measured the effect of these factors on TB incidence and deaths in China, India and South Africa, three countries which make up approximately 40% of the global TB cases. They modelled different scenarios with various implementations of social distancing measures and health service disruption lasting for six months to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on global TB burden.
They found that if there is substantial health service disruption, such as a 50% reduction in TB cases detected and successfully treated, there would be an increase in both incidence and deaths from TB over the subsequent five years, regardless of the level of social contact.
The most probable scenario, based on the current information and distancing measures, suggests 6,000 additional deaths could occur in China, 95,000 in India and 13,000 in South Africa.
However, if social distancing measures are minimal and there is substantial health care disruption -- based on 80% reduction in case detection and treatment success -- the model predicts an 8-14% increase in cumulative deaths from TB over the next five years.
Dr McQuaid explained: "We need to act now to ensure innovative approaches to people-centric TB care are the focus, so that the fight to end this pandemic doesn't overwrite the hard-won gains made against this disease.
"Given that health service disruption far outweighs the benefit of social distancing, it is crucial to maintain and strengthen TB-related health services during, and after, COVID-19.
"It is also important to note that the decline of health services is likely to have a greater impact on drug-resistance TB patients,