TB ‘joins HIV as most deadly infection’

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan
Tuberculosis now ranks alongside HIV as the world’s most deadly infectious disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Each accounted for between 1.1 million and 1.2 million deaths in 2014. Most new cases of TB are in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria or Pakistan.

The WHO said the tuberculosis figures were unacceptable for a disease that could be cured.Medecins Sans Frontieres said the statistics were “disheartening” and warned the world was “losing ground” on tackling resistant forms of TB.

The WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015 shows the huge strides that have been made in tackling TB, withthe death rate being nearly halved since 1990.And the number of infections has been falling by 1.5% a year since 2000.Deaths from HIV/Aids have also been falling rapidly because of improved access to anti-retroviral drugs.

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