Tuberculosis infections highest on record: WHO

Global tuberculosis cases reached an all-time high in 2023, with nearly 11 million people estimated to have become sick with the disease last year.

According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, roughly 10.8 million people "fell ill" with the bacterial infection in 2023.

"The continued rise reflects the ongoing after-effects of disruptions to TB services during the worst years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021). These persist because of the lag time between more people being infected with TB during disruptions to services and the development (among a small proportion of those infected) of TB disease," the report stated.

Most global tuberculosis cases in 2023 occurred in the WHO regions of Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific.

Between 2020 and 2023, the global incidence rate of tuberculosis rose by an estimated 4.6 percent. The rise followed a 2 percent decline that occurred between 2010 and 2020.

The report noted, however, that the increase in global tuberculosis cases appears to have slowed "considerably" and is leveling off as of 2023. Cases were observed to increase in two WHO regions, the Americas and the Western Pacific.

At 1.25 million, the estimated number of deaths due to tuberculosis fell in 2023 for the second consecutive year.

"In 2023, TB probably returned to being the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following 3 years in which it was replaced by COVID-19," according to the report.