Before Covid-19, it was the infectious disease that caused the most deaths in the world. This is no longer the case today. But with more than ten million people infected each year, TB continues to strain health systems. The WHO is trying to remobilize the troops on the occasion of this World Tuberculosis Day.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of cases of tuberculosis, this infectious disease which is transmitted by air and most often affects the lungs, has started to rise again. A first for ten years, deplores the leader of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, who is worried about seeing the goal of eradicating tuberculosis by 2030 move away. “Since 2000, deaths from tuberculosis have fallen by 40%,” he explains. And yet, the disease still kills 1.6 million people each year and many more are infected. »
However, treatments do exist. But either they are not accessible to those who need them the most because they are too expensive, or they are still in development. Sixteen new vaccines are also in the testing phase. “We must ensure that existing tools are more accessible,” said the director of the WHO. But we also need new ones. The only vaccine against tuberculosis, BCG, is more than a century old. And it does not protect teenagers and adults who account for most transmissions. »
From this point of view, the decision of the Indian authorities not to extend the Johnson & Johnson patent on “Bedaquiline”, a new molecule very effective against resistant forms of tuberculosis, was welcomed by the WHO and by MSF. A generic version could be developed this year.