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Chapter 22 - Tuberculosis

from Section 4 - Major Common Infections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2025

By
Linda Boloko ,
David Barr ,
Sean Wasserman ,
Charlotte Schutz ,
Rudzani Muloiwa  and
Graeme Meintjes
Edited by
David Mabey ,
Martin W. Weber ,
Moffat Nyirenda ,
Dorothy Yeboah-Manu ,
Jackson Orem ,
Laura Benjamin ,
Michael Marks  and
Nicholas A. Feasey
David Mabey
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Martin W. Weber
Affiliation:
World Health Organization
Moffat Nyirenda
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dorothy Yeboah-Manu
Affiliation:
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana
Jackson Orem
Affiliation:
Uganda Cancer Institute, Kampala
Laura Benjamin
Affiliation:
University College London
Michael Marks
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Nicholas A. Feasey
Affiliation:
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
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Summary

Despite being both treatable and preventable, tuberculosis is estimated to have caused 56 million deaths globally in the last 30 years. Over this time new challenges to TB control have evolved. The HIV epidemic fuelled rises in TB transmission and disease, as well as widening diagnosis and treatment gaps in TB care. As a result, settings in East and Southern Africa have the highest TB incidence rates in the world, and TB is the leading cause of hospitalization and death in HIV-positive adults. Emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis highlighted limited availability of drug-sensitivity testing and resulted in worse treatment outcomes for many patients. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption in health services, reversing milestones achieved in the End TB Strategy set by the World Health Organization. As a result, the gap between estimated tuberculosis cases and diagnosed cases widened in 2020.

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Chapter
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Principles of Medicine in Africa , pp. 280 - 301
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

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