Covid-19 disrupts TB detection but new pandemic tools may aid China in tuberculosis fight

Name: Door-to-door testing carried out in China’s Henan province as Omicron spreads from Tianjin
Uploaded: 2022-04-22T11:27:53.000Z
Duration: 1 min 35 s
Description: Door-to-door testing carried out in China’s Henan province as Omicron spreads from Tianjin

China is among the countries with the highest prevalence of latent TB, with around 20 to 30 per cent of the population living with the infection

Lessons learned since 2020 mean China can now collect thousands, even millions, of samples, rapidly test and contact trace: Gates Foundation TB expert

Reading Time:3 minutes

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For countries with a high burden of latent TB infection, such as China, having a vaccine to prevent the onset of disease would be crucial. The World Health Organization says the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted TB notifications. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Zhuang Pinghui

Published: 7:27pm, 22 Apr 2022Updated: 8:49pm, 22 Apr 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis, but there might be a technological silver lining for China in battling the disease, according to health experts.

Addressing the TB and Lung Diseases Prevention and Control Forum on Friday, the experts said China had several new chances to intervene in the disease and end TB epidemics.

The World Health Organization aims to end the global TB epidemic by 2035, with one indicator requiring the disease prevalence to drop below 10 cases every 100,000 people.

Zhang Wenhong, a doctor of Shanghai’s Huashan hospital and director of the National Medical Centre for Infectious Diseases, said that even before Covid-19 the goal was “very challenging” for China to reach and the pandemic had made it even more difficult.

“Covid-19 pandemic and co-infection of TB are on the rise, making it increasingly difficult for us to end the epidemic of TB,” Zhang told the online conference organised by the Chinese Journal of Antituberculosis.

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Door-to-door testing carried out in China’s Henan province as Omicron spreads from Tianjin

The WHO said the number of TB case notifications rose in 2019 but dropped around the world in 2020 – including an 8 per cent drop recorded in China – suggesting a disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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