Tuberculosis deaths down, World Health Organization says

Oct 11, 2011, 18:44 GMT

Washington - Fewer people are dying from tuberculosis and fewer people are falling ill, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

'For the first time we are reporting that the number of people falling ill with tuberculosis each year is declining,' Mario Raviglione, director of WHO's effort to stop tuberculosis, said in Washington.

'Also the number of people dying from TB fell to its lowest level in a decade.'

Global deaths dropped to 1.4 million in 2010 from 1.8 million in 2003, according to WHO's report. The number of new cases slipped to 8.8 million in 2010 from 9 million in 2005.

'The TB death rate dropped 40 per cent between 1990 and 2010, and the world is therefore on track to achieve the 50-per-cent decline in TB mortality that is our international target for 2015,' Raviglione said.

He credited a combination of factors for the worldwide decline, including 'probably' better control of AIDS in societies hardest-hit by tuberculosis, such as in Africa. TB had become more widespread in the last two decades, often spreading in the population of AIDS patients, whose immune systems were weakened by their HIV infection.

'So when AIDS comes down in those countries, then TB also comes down,' Raviglione said.

Better awareness of tuberculosis and increased spending to address the disease had improved earlier detection of cases, which helps prevent further spread of the potentially deadly bacterial disease.

'Fewer people are dying of tuberculosis, and fewer are falling ill. This is major progress, but it is no cause for complacency,' UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon said in a statement.

Tuberculosis, which usually strike the lungs, is spread by coughing or other contact from infected people. It can be cured with antibiotics, but drug-resistant strains have complicated treatment for some patients.

World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan said that 'particular attention' is still needed for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which she called a 'growing threat.'

Raviglione said that China, in particular, has seen improvements, with a TB death rate that fell by nearly 80 per cent from 1990 to 2010.