TB surpasses Covid as biggest killer: Expert

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Following massive global efforts against Covid-19, tuberculosis has resurfaced as the world's leading infectious killer, a top expert said as quoted by AFP, lamenting a lack of focus on eradicating TB.

Mel Spigelman, president of the non-profit TB Alliance, lauded the Covid pandemic's rapid and dramatic progress, with a vast array of safe and effective vaccines, tests, and treatments developed in less than two years.

"But the juxtaposition with TB is pretty stark," he said as quoted by AFP.

Read more: Diseases suppressed during Covid are coming back

Before Covid-19, tuberculosis, also known as consumption, was the world's leading infectious disease, killing 1.5 million people each year.

"TB has regained the dubious distinction," Spigelman said, referring to the steady decline in global Covid deaths.

According to the TB Alliance, a non-profit organization that works to develop and deliver faster-acting and more affordable drugs against the disease, particularly in poorer countries, TB kills 4,109 people per day, while 1,449 people die each day as a result of Covid, based on the 40,578 deaths reported in the previous 28 days on the Johns Hopkins University dashboard.

However, unlike Covid, there appears to be little, if any, interest in taking on TB.