The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the global presence (prevalence) of tuberculosis (TB) to be 10.6 million cases. A total of 1.3 million people died from TB in 2022. This was decreased from both 2020 and 2021 reports. Newly diagnosed cases (incidence) have hit the highest point since WHO began monitoring in 1995 at 7.5 million in 2022. This number is thought to include a backlog of people who developed TB in previous years, but their diagnosis was delayed due to COVID disruptions which affected access to health services. TB remains the world's second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent in 2022 after COVID-19.1
Tuberculosis, present in all countries, is curable and preventable, according to the WHO. However, the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis strains in the recent past has sustained and even propelled the current TB public health crisis. As of the most recent WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2023, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines make up >60% of TB cases. Europe and the Russian Federation, previously on the list of countries with high TB burdens, have met with success driven by a decline in new case incidences. The burden of resistant TB strains will be covered later in this course.
This course presents a brief history of tuberculosis and its developing resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs. Cases and TB-resistance challenges from regions of India, Italy, and the US-Mexican border follow it. The pathogenesis of TB disease in humans is diagrammed, and a review of diagnostic laboratory methods, susceptibility testing, and control methods is explored.
