Recent news
October 2011
Tuberculosis rates on the decline
October 14, 2011 -- For the first time ever, rates of tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide are declining.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), both the number of people contracting the disease and the rate of deaths across the globe are trending downward. The number of TB cases is at a historical low, while the global death toll is the lowest it’s been in a decade, falling from a peak of 1.8 million people in 2003 to 1.4 million today.
New and improved tools have helped contribute to this decline. During the past decade, efforts to develop new diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines for TB have intensified and considerable progress has been made. For the first time in 40 years, there is a coordinated portfolio of promising new drugs on the horizon and there are 10 vaccine candidates for the prevention of TB in Phase I or Phase II trials. A new rapid diagnostic test, GeneExpert, was recently approved by the WHO and has been rolled out in several countries. The news of the decline in prevalence comes as important research continues, including the recent discovery that vitamin D can trigger a positive immune response in TB patients.
While the new numbers are promising, the WHO has also issued caution that the progress is fragile and could be easily reversed due to a lack of sufficient funding. Progress is also constrained by long drug regimens and drug resistance to currently available drugs, many of which are decades old.
"This is major progress. But it is no cause for complacency," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. "Too many millions still develop TB each year, and too many die. I urge serious and sustained support for TB prevention and care, especially for the world's poorest and most vulnerable people."
The WHO warned that domestic funding in larger countries needs to continue in order for this success to continue. A projected gap of $1 billion in funding for 2012 and the multi-drug resistant form of the disease are going to be two of the greatest challenges with sustaining this progress.
