Victorian bug that 'mimics cold' reemerges as WHO's 'top infectious threat'

A VICTORIAN-era disease that can mimic the symptoms of a cold has reemerged as a “top infectious disease killer”, WHO has warned.

Over 8 million people were infected with it world-wide in 2023 – the highest number recorded since the global health watchdog began tracking cases.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease we often associate with Dickensian England – as the dangerous lung reached epidemic proportions in the 1800s.

But a recent report released by the World Health Organisation warned that millions are still dying of the disease.

About 8.2 million people were diagnosed with TB in 2023.

According to WHO, this is the highest number recorded since it began global TB monitoring in 1995.

“This represents a notable increase from 7.5 million reported in 2022, placing TB again as the leading infectious disease killer in 2023, surpassing Covid-19,” the health watchdog stated.

It estimated that a total of 10.8 million people were sick with the killer lung infection throughout 2023.

Some 1.25 million people also died of TB last year – slightly lower than the 1.32 million deaths recorded throughout 2022.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it.

“WHO urges all countries to make good on the concrete commitments they have made to expand the use of those tools, and to end TB.”

It comes after health bosses warned of a resurgence of the disease in England earlier this year.

Figures released by the UK Health Security Agency in February showed that cases of the Victorian disease increased by over 10 per cent last year – up from 4,380 in 2022 to 4,850 in 2023.

Health chiefs at the time warned of the infection’s similarity to a cold or flu.

Anyone with a persistent cough and fever, particularly those in groups at a higher risk of catching TB, was urged not to dismiss their symptoms.

Dr Esther Robinson, head of the TB unit at UKHSA, said at the time: “Not every persistent cough, along with a fever, is caused by flu or Covid-19.

2

“A cough that usually has mucus and lasts longer than three weeks can be caused by a range of other issues, including TB.”

A quarterly report of TB incidence in England found that cases had increased by 7.5 per cent in the first four months of 2024, compared to the same period of time in 2023.

The number of infections in the second quarter of 2024 were similar to the second quarter of 2023, seeing a 3.2 per cent increase.

“The cumulative number of people notified in the first two quarters of 2024 was 7.1 per cent higher than the same period in 2023 – 2,630 individuals compared with 2,455,” the report stated.

An UKHSA spokesperson told Sun Health that data for the third quarter will be published soon.

Drivers of disease

WHO’s most recent report said that TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific.

India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan accounted for more than half of the world’s cases.

The agency also noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half were diagnosed and treated.

“Multidrug-resistant TB remains a public health crisis,” it wrote.

New TB cases were largely driven by undernutrition, HIV infections, alcohol use disorders, smoking and diabetes, the report added.

Dr Tereza Kasaeva, director of WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Programme said: “We are confronted with a multitude of formidable challenges: funding shortfalls and catastrophic financial burden on those affected, climate change, conflict, migration and displacement, pandemics, and drug-resistant tuberculosis, a significant driver of antimicrobial resistance.

“It is imperative that we unite across all sectors and stakeholders, to confront these pressing issues and ramp up our efforts.”

TB is caused by bacteria that spreads through droplets released by the coughs of people with active TB, the NHS says.

Symptoms include a cough that lasts more than three weeks, feeling exhausted, a high temperature, weight loss and loss of appetite.

It can be life-threatening, but most cases can be successfully treated with antibiotics.

The infection can also spread to your brain, heart, abdomen, glands, bones and nervous system, causing body aches and pains, swollen joints, stomach pain and constipation – among other symptoms.

People are at higher risk of the disease if they are in close contact with a person known to have the disease, travel to countries with high rates of TB, are homeless, are addicted to drugs, have a weakened immune system or are in prison.

There’s a jab that protects against the bug, but vaccination programmes have been scrapped in several countries over the last 20 years.

Though the assumption is that the infection can only be spread by people who are symptomatic, research published earlier this year suggested who show no signs of the disease can also pass on the killer bug.

The study found that four in five people testing positive for the killer bug don’t suffer from a cough – previously thought to be a key symptom of TB.

But even those who don’t have a cough carry the infectious disease in their spit, which can be spewed into the air when someone talks or breathes, scientists found.

This means people can pick up the infection just by breathing near someone who has the bug but isn’t showing any obvious signs, they said.